Evil Waking (Magic Trackers Book 3)

by Michael La Ronn

  Whoosh.

  Sound returned to the dream, erupting in a sonic boom that ripped through my ears.

  I staggered back.

  “No!” I cried.

  With all my might, I hurled the dream ether into the demon, sending him through the brick and out the other side.

  Huffing, I spread my hands, ripping the brownstone in half. I walked through it and reached the demon on the other side.

  “Be gone,” I growled. “You are sinspawn. You have no right to exist in my world.”

  The beast grunted.

  I hovered into the air.

  “May God grant you serenity upon your return to the underworld,” I said. “May one day you wake up and see the blessed goodness of the holy spirit.”

  The Somnient closed its eyes.

  “May you be exterminated quickly,” I said.

  The demon sighed.

  “Be gone!” I cried.

  The demon’s body erupted into flames.

  “Be gone!” I cried again. “Be fucking gone!”

  The demon exploded into a thousand orbs of light that shattered into dust.

  I landed on the ground to a massive round of applause.

  “Aisha has defeated the demon,” Morgan said. “She has won round one, but the question now is whether she will proceed—”

  Her microphone crumbled in her hand, and she looked around curiously.

  “I told you to shut up,” I said, waving dream ether in her direction. Duct tape appeared over her mouth.

  “Now I can concentrate without you narrating the play-by-play,” I said. With a wave of my hand, I set her on the curb and put her to sleep.

  The dreamscape faded slowly to black.

  The other dream mage wouldn't be able to hide for much longer. With no dreamscape to hide behind, he'd have to reveal him or herself.

  “Let’s do this the right way,” I said. “And it starts with you coming out of the shadows.”

  A figure appeared slightly ahead of me.

  It was a woman.

  She had wisps of pink in her hand.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  The woman did not respond; instead, she twirled the wisps faster.

  “Stop!” I cried.

  I threw a dream blast at her, but a protective shield flashed in front of her.

  Meanwhile, the pink wisps grew brighter.

  Jesus.

  This mage was trying to destroy Morgan’s mind.

  I ran at her, ether blazing.

  But I was too late.

  She raised a fist full of energy, punched the shadows, and shards of darkness dislodged, revealing a rapid montage of Morgan’s memories, blazing all around us like an ethereal movie reel.

  “Stop!”

  I broke through her protective shield, slamming into her.

  She put a hand on my face.

  I wasn't going to let her…

  I wasn't going to let her kill an innocent person!

  I gathered as much dream ether into my hand as I could and I punched her. Hard.

  So hard that the pink wisps dropped from her hand.

  Still, the woman’s face was a shadow.

  I grabbed one of the pink wisps and connected it with her body.

  Then I twirled the wisp and ripped her apart.

  But just before the light faded from her eyes, she snapped her fingers, smiled evilly, and sent a ripple of powerful ether in every direction. Then she disappeared.

  All around me, Morgan’s memories tore like fabric.

  Slowly, the sounds faded.

  The light that had suddenly shone on the dream became less bright, diminishing into the darkness of death.

  “No,” I said, tears in my eyes. “No!”

  I had no choice but to jump out of Morgan’s mind before her last memory went dim.

  27

  I crashed against a nightstand.

  I landed on carpet as a clatter of noise exploded around me.

  A lamp landed on my head, breaking into thick shards.

  I was in a bedroom.

  It was dark.

  From the light streaming through two double windows, I could tell I was on the second floor of a brownstone somewhere in my neighborhood. A distant siren wailed.

  I stood, trying to orient myself, but it was dark.

  I stepped back and my foot stepped on something hard.

  Morgan.

  She lay on the carpet, lifeless, her eyes still open. Her hands and feet were bound. Someone must have kidnapped her while we were in the demon nest. Damn!

  I bent down to grab her.

  But when I felt her cold skin, I knew that the worst was true.

  No.

  I shrank away from her body.

  Why was she here?

  Why was I here?

  It didn't make sense.

  And then I sensed the gentle humming of a dream, just beyond reality.

  Behind me was a queen bed. A woman lay under the covers with her hands over her chest, as if she were dead.

  In the shadows, I almost didn't recognize her.

  But the shadows shifted and the moonlight fell upon her peaceful face.

  It was Kathy, my neighbor.

  She was sleeping as if someone had tucked her in. Pajamas and all. Her cell phone lay in pieces next to the bed.

  Then it occurred to me that I had never been to Kathy’s brownstone.

  If I was in Kathy’s house…then the shop was next door.

  My head suddenly hurt.

  I had to escape.

  I had to find my cousins.

  I started for the door, when a male voice spoke.

  “Please don't leave…”

  A digital recorder next to Kathy’s bed was playing.

  It was Balthus.

  “Miss Robinson, we've got so much more to discuss. You're probably wondering why you're in your friend’s room. Ah, but the question is: is she your friend? Is she? Or is she a hostage? You see, I'm done playing games with you. If you want to end this, you'll find me inside Miss Kathy’s dream. I challenge you to an old-fashioned nightmare duel. Two dream mages, and a fight to the death!”

  I balled my fists.

  “I don't play the typical villain game,” Balthus said. “I don't believe in letting my enemies prepare. I don't believe in letting my enemies rally. This ends now. You and me.”

  No.

  I wasn't going to take the bait.

  This was a trap.

  I wasn't going to fall for it.

  I was going to stay classy.

  I ran for the bedroom door and grabbed the handle.

  A pentagram flashed on the door, and an explosion knocked me backward, across the room, and into Kathy’s dream.

  28

  I flipped and tumbled and twirled through the air until I landed on hard dirt.

  I was tired of making these kinds of entrances.

  I was in a white dress, and my hair hung in front of my face.

  Hooves clopped around me.

  Several knights on horses surrounded me. They wore plate armor and helmets. They carried lances.

  I was in some kind of field. A crowd of people cheered in wooden stands. Torches lit up the night, and the moon was shrouded behind thick clouds. A murder of crows fluttered along the sides of the field.

  A golden light drew my attention to the center of the stands, where Kathy sat, dressed as a princess. She cheered with the crowd.

  I staggered up.

  I looked down at my dress.

  Umm, no.

  With a quick wave, I redressed myself in my normal attire—leather jacket, jeans. Dresses weren't my thing.

  One of the knights lifted the visor on his helmet.

  Balthus.

  His face was covered in bloody gashes from his encounter with Destiny. He was sorry to look at; I was sorry Destiny didn't finish him off.

  He laughed jollily.

  “Welcome, Miss Robinson!” he said.

  I stepped back, bu
t the horses formed a tight circle around me.

  “You are in a twelfth century jousting competition,” Balthus said. “Jousting was a rather odd game if you think about it.”

  “I know what jousting is,” I said.

  “Good!” Balthus said. “Then I trust you know everything there is to know about wielding a lance!”

  I clapped my hands.

  The other knights and horses disappeared. A ball of dream ether appeared in my hand.

  “You want to settle this, let's do it,” I said. “The real way.”

  “Your way is the way of the street,” Balthus said. “My way is the way of tradition.”

  “Fuck your tradition,” I said. “And all of its racist trappings.”

  “Let the battles begin!” Kathy cried. “I want to see some jousting!”

  “Quiet!” I cried.

  Kathy quieted, looking shocked.

  Balthus laughed. He clapped his visor down.

  “If you don't want to play by the age-old tradition of dream mages, I suppose I can listen to you just this one time.”

  His armor disappeared and he flew at me, clutching a hand around my throat.

  I staggered back, but he held me tight.

  “In the old days, dream mages would challenge each other to duels,” Balthus said. “They would pick a night, vanish into the dream of an unsuspecting man or woman, and fight to the death among romantic dreamscapes!”

  I resisted his clutch, beating at his hands. But he was strong. Crazy strong.

  “And then all of that stopped,” Balthus said. “Dream mages stopped being dream mages. We let the masses get to us. We learned to fear our powers instead of celebrate them.”

  “Maybe there was a good reason for it,” I said, struggling against him.

  I clapped a blast of dream ether against both sides of Balthus’s face, and he stumbled back, letting me go.

  “I don't understand what the problem is,” I said. “I never did anything to you.”

  Balthus laughed.

  “I think you're just romanticizing an old way of life that you yourself never knew,” I said as we circled each other. “All you care about is using that power to control people. Where I come from, that's bullshit.”

  “Here we go, back to helping people again,” Balthus said. “I knew this would come up. Did you know that your behavior is the antithesis of dream mage behavior? We use our powers to rule, not help.”

  “Tell that to my ancestors,” I said. “When we were slaves, dream mages used their powers to numb out the harshness of life. We didn't think about ruling. Though maybe we should have. Might have prevented idiots like you from trying to act like you monopolize an entire group of magical beings.”

  “If you feel that way, there's nothing I can say to change your mind,” Balthus said.

  “And there's nothing I can say to change yours?” I said. “But then again, that wasn't the point of all this, was it?”

  Balthus clapped. The surroundings disappeared, rippling like waves on a pond. The neon-lit streets of downtown appeared. A snowy, wintry night, purple sky.

  Kathy appeared between us, slowly forming.

  “No more words,” Balthus said. “Let's see how a street mage holds up the honored tradition and the calculated might of a true dream mage!”

  Balthus swelled and rippled away.

  My heart raced.

  My breathing picked up. I didn't know what the hell he was about to do, but it was gonna be devious.

  I turned around, expecting him to attack me from behind.

  Instead, pedestrians wisped onto the street, passing around me in huge droves.

  Several blocks away, the lights of the Mynthia Stadium, an oblong, six-story building, crisscrossed, and country music blared from speakers, hardly distinguishable.

  Through the crowd, I spotted Kathy, walking down the street with a golden purse draped around her shoulder. She wore a pink puffy coat with a stocking cap with kitty ears.

  I tracked through the crowd to keep up with her and sensed the dream ether pulsing through the air.

  From the looks on the passersby’s blurry faces and the emotions running through the dream—longing, fear—I knew this was a memory. The lighting had that shading that memory dreams often have.

  Okay.

  I was dealing with a memory.

  Got it.

  What did I know about memory dreams?

  God, everything. And that scared the hell out of me, especially knowing that Balthus knew more.

  I tried to manipulate the dreamscape, but the dream ether was immovable. Pushing against it was like trying to move a paralyzed limb. Balthus’s hold on Kathy’s mind was too strong.

  I had to protect Kathy first.

  If she died, then it was game over.

  Okay.

  I caught up with Kathy and stayed directly behind her, fully expecting a fist or a knife to come out of the crowd. That was how Balthus’s dream mages operated.

  Instead, I heard a bone-chilling sound that was all too familiar…

  Wooo…wooo….

  A train.

  A train…

  A train.

  The phantom train!

  Sirens sounded.

  A police officer jumped out of a nearby car, screaming.

  “Folks, listen up!” he cried, running at us. “I need everyone to evacuate west of Fourth, NOW!”

  God.

  When the phantom train struck, the city had to evacuate the blocks surrounding the stadium because…

  Everything froze. Even Kathy.

  “Aisha,” Balthus said, taunting.

  I grabbed Kathy and covered her, emanating a protective barrier around us.

  In a flash, a rush of lightning surged through us. An intense screaming filled the air, greater than any scream I've ever heard in my life.

  I covered Kathy and protected her with all of my strength, bracing myself.

  The lightning was strong.

  The screaming stopped as the lightning roared down the street and doubled back toward us.

  And then I saw it.

  It was twin serpentine dragons, and the screaming was them roaring. Balthus was in the middle of them, grinning evilly.

  “Just seeing what you've got!” he cried as the dragons roared through us again.

  Then the dragons passed through us, and they and Balthus disappeared.

  Everything unfroze.

  Kathy looked at me strangely and then startled, pushing me away.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, disgusted.

  “Sorry,” I said. “The officer…scared me.”

  I pointed to the officer. I willed him to approach us.

  “What's the matter with you two?” he asked.

  “What's going on?” Kathy asked.

  “There's an attack pending on this area,” the officer said. “That's why we need you to—”

  Wooo…wooo…

  A crisp wind blew, and many of the pedestrians screamed and picked up their pace, racing around us and wobbling Kathy.

  “Yikes,” Kathy said.

  “Let's get out of here,” I said, taking her hand.

  She accepted.

  As soon as she did, I warped inside of her body and aligned my soul with her.

  The next time Balthus struck, I couldn't expect her to do the rational thing. In fact, she'd do the opposite.

  The sky darkened even more than a night sky should have.

  Wooo…wooo…

  This train was coming into the station, and neither me nor Kathy were going to be able to stop it.

  Or…

  Outrun it.

  Damn.

  I remembered Kathy’s story.

  How she was in the middle of the evacuation when all of this started, and—

  Wooo…wooo…

  BOOM!

  A tunnel of fire ripped through the stadium, imploding it.

  Screams erupted from the crowd as the tunnel tore down the street.

/>   People stopped running and stared at the fire in awe.

  It engulfed them.

  No!

  The fire covered us before I could warp out of Kathy’s mind and protect her.

  Her feelings and my feelings became one.

  I screamed as fire burned every inch of my body, searing skin off. It tore down into my bones, melting them away. The pain…

  And then my pain doubled when I heard Kathy screaming too.

  But she didn't even have much time to scream.

  We fell to the ground, a pile of melting bone and blood.

  I felt Kathy’s consciousness drifting away from me.

  I stayed connected, following it and her thoughts.

  Her frantic, sad thoughts.

  “I'm dead,” she said. “My god, I'm dead. I'll never see Arthur again. Oh no, God, no!”

  The dreamscape around us changed from fire into gentle water.

  Blackness.

  Dark water.

  I couldn't see.

  Neither could Kathy.

  We drifted and floated as if we were underwater.

  Slowly, we oriented ourselves, and a saturated ray of light appeared in the distance—up.

  Kathy started to swim toward the light.

  As she did, everything fell into perspective. Her thoughts slowly accepted it.

  I'm dead.

  She swam faster toward the surface.

  I want to know.

  I want to understand.

  Help me understand.

  The light grew brighter, like the light of a golden dusk on the ocean…

  She—me—we—reached our hands up, waiting to inhale.

  But then something clapped around our legs and dragged us down through the murky water.

  The light faded until pure darkness surrounded us.

  Then, we blinked and appeared on the street.

  Instead of piles of bones, we were back in living, breathing form.

  Golden light spread across the street, repairing everything that had been damaged.

  Kathy looked up at the sky in wonder.

  But the sky blistered, and two evil eyes appeared.

  “You have been corrupted,” the voice said. “May the evil spirit confine you!”

  Fear spread through Kathy and she shrank back.

  I tried to warp out of her body, but something stopped me.

  An invisible force.

  Someone else inside Kathy’s body.

  Balthus.

  I pushed back against him as Kathy’s mind went from tranquil to scared.