The Magic Shop
Page 33
“You must pay for what you’ve done.”
“Please great Ovix,” Sol said, “these children need a father.”
The dragon was silent for a moment as his eyes swept his surroundings. He seemed to consider the Kabbahl, the grandparents, and then even Elba.
“We’ve spent our lives looking for our children,” Mirella said. “They were wrongfully taken from us. We just want our children.”
Ovix took a deep breath. His exhalation seemed to heat the room up considerably. “What you want doesn’t matter any longer. You are lucky to be alive. What matters is what they want.”
Marcus and Ellie exchanged confused looks.
“What do you mean?” Marcus asked.
“What Sol has done makes him mine. He will pay most severely for his crimes,” Ovix said. “Now it is given to you to decide what will become of your new magic, who you will go with, and who you will become.”
The build up to this moment must have been too much. Tears began to stream down Ellie’s face uncontrollably, but without hesitation she ran to Charlotte and Winston, and wrapped her arms around them. “I love you grandma and grandpa.”
Predictable, Marcus thought. Ellie always played it safe. This would make his decision even more difficult. They had always been together.
“Ellie, please…” Mirella said, putting her hand over her heart. “You would abandon your own mother? I thought you said if you were in my place you would have never left your family?”
Ellie said nothing. She just buried her face in Winston’s arms.
Marcus still wasn’t sure what he felt about Mirella. He certainly didn’t expect, at the end of all of this that they would simply get to choose the outcome. The children never got to choose. “So, if we… I mean, if I went with you, Mirella… Mother… where would we go?” Marcus asked. “How would that work?”
Mirella’s countenance brightened with hope. “There’s a place far from here, Marcus, a magical place… somewhere we could start over, away from all this. I could teach you whatever you wanted to know about magic.”
“What are you doing Marcus?” Winston asked. “After everything, after all this, You’d just abandon us?”
“You must choose, Marcus,” Ovix said.
In silence, Marcus considered everything they had been through. Their grandparents had always been there for them, and had loved them, despite the mischief, and the poor decisions they had consistently made. And they had been through it all… together.
Then Marcus searched his feelings for Mirella and Sol. He didn’t even really know them, but what he knew of them, he didn’t like… mostly. Yes, they had shown themselves to be ruthless and cold in everything… except him and Ellie. He was sure he had seen good in them, he just didn’t know if he could trust it.
“Please, don’t leave us, Marcus,” Charlotte said. “Come home.”
Marcus pursed his lips, and slowly made his way to his grandparents. This was his family, and he couldn’t be the one to break it up, no matter how tempting it was to know his true mother. He had seen enough, and just wanted to go home.
“No,” Mirella screamed. “No. We’ve just found each found each other.”
Charlotte and Winston’s eyes welled up, and they nodded their heads. Charlotte opened her arms, and Marcus ran into her tight, warm hug.
“We’re so proud of you, Marcus,” his grandma said.
“You did well today, young man,” his grandpa added as he joined them and tousled his hair.
“It is done,” Ovix said.
Ellie hugged Marcus, and kissed him on the forhead. “No, it isn’t,” she said loudly.
Ovix rose up to his full height.
“I love you all,” Ellie said, her eyes swelling up with tears. She stepped away from her family. “I’m sorry.”
“Ellie?” Charlotte said. “But—”
“I’ve spent my whole life wondering what my parents were like, and if I were like them.”
“Ellie, don’t be silly—” Anabell started.
“And now I’ve found my mother,” she said. “You can’t expect me to just let that go.”
“What? You’d break up the family?” Marcus asked. “Are you nuts? Mirella’s a killer!”
“I choose Mirella,” Ellie said, “and it’s not silly. She’s my mother.”
“But—” Marcus started again.
“Enough,” Ovix said. “It is done. She has made her decision.”
“Thank you, Ovix, for letting me make my own choice,” Ellie said to the dragon before turning back to the rest of them. “I’m so sorry, but please understand. I just need to know my mother. She just lost her husband. I don’t want her to be alone.”
Charlotte burst in to tears. “Don’t leave us,” she mouthed.
Mirella’s lip began to tremble, and she shook her head, blinking hard. Ellie approached her mother, and took her hand. “Don’t make me regret this,” Ellie said. “Please.”
“We’ll go far from here, Ellie,” Mirella said softly. “We’ll start over. Whatever you want.”
“You may leave,” Ovix said. Taking a deep breath, he unleashed a burst of blue flame that twisted and swirled until it settled on the ground in the form of a flaming, oval door.
“This will take you wherever you would go,” Ovix said.
“Come on,” Mirella said with a big smile, grabbing Ellie’s hand. “I look forward to getting to know you.”
The two of them walked through the flaming portal and disappeared, the flames collapsing and evaporating behind them.
“Where did she take my sister?” Marcus asked, frustrated. Ellie didn’t even look back. Maybe that made it easier.
“To a land far away from here,” Ovix said. “You made your choice, Marcus, and she made hers.”
“Now to the matter at hand,” Ovix said, turning his majestic head to the Kabbahl. “The reign of this council has come to an end.”
“But,” Cyril began, “there is so much left to —”
“Be gone,” Ovix said, and in that instant a loud cracking echoed throughout the great hall, and the members of the Kabbahl disappeared in a cloud of evaporating smoke.
“Where did they go?” Marcus asked.
“It is no matter,” Ovix said. “They will go where they can no longer cause harm.”
“Thank you great Ovix,” Elba said with a slight bow.
“And now I must go,” Ovix said. “I must attend to this,” he lifted Sol up in his clutches, “and find the others of my kind… if they still exist. Clearly, order and balance must be restored to our world.”
With that Ovix opened up his vast, flaming wings, and lifted off the ground.
“Until we meet again, young Marcus,” Ovix said with a slight nod.
“Not if I can help it,” Marcus said under his breath.
“I thought you might have learned by now, that sometimes there are things you cannot help. You must do the best you can with what are you are given. But remember, where much is given, much may be expected.” With that he turned, and flew away, carrying Sol through the same hole he had appeared through.
“Come here,” his grandpa said, pulling him in for a big bear hug. “Thanks for choosing us.” Not a moment passed before his grandma wrapped her arms around Marcus too; and so did Caleb, and Anabell. It almost felt like one big happy family. Almost…
“Here,” Elba said, “You dropped something.” She handed him his brim.
Marcus considered it. He marveled at how such a small and simple thing could wield such power, and cause so much harm.
“You keep it,” Marcus said pulling his grandpa’s arms tighter around him. “I’ve had enough of magic for now.”
“But your magic…” Elba said, which earned her an immediate wave of dismissal from Marcus’ grandma.
Somehow Mirella and Sol had managed to break up their family again, and it was all Marcus could do to hold back the tears.
It was a lot to take in, and he never really had a chance to stop
and consider everything that had happened. This had been some kind of adventure, for sure. But it wasn’t the same without his sister, Ellie. The love he felt from his family, the hug he was enveloped in at that moment wasn’t the same either.
He would find Ellie one day, wherever she was. He would bring her home so the family could be complete.
“Let’s go home,” Marcus said, his voice heavy.
Elba opened the portal, and led the way back. Caleb and Anabell fell in line, and Marcus’ grandpa and grandma followed.
Marus hesitated.
“Aren’t you coming?” his grandma said turning back.
Marcus wanted one last moment where his sister had been, to take it all in. “Yeah, I’m coming,” he said a moment later. “I’ll pull up the rear.”
Then Marcus realized that if he allowed himself, he could stay there forever trying to capture every feeling, every detail. He was holding on to anything he could, and that would only make it harder. With a sigh, Marcus fell in line with the others, and to make it easier, he didn’t look back.
The End
About the Author
Justin was born with an active imagination on a naval base in Spain, but has spent most of his life in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains of Utah. He is bilingual, and has lived all over the world. He has four children; two boys, and two girls, and an enduring wife. He doesn’t have any pets that he’s aware of, but his children have been known to hide things under his bed.
In his free time Justin loves to read, write, and play games. He enjoys his close friends, and loves to make people laugh. To learn more about Justin, or his work, you can visit him at www.justinswapp.com
If you enjoyed this book, check out Justin’s other stories:
Mayan Blood
http://www.amazon.com/Mayan-Blood-ebook/dp/B006OBY3M0
Cigars for Sawyer
http://www.amazon.com/Cigars-for-Sawyer-ebook/dp/B00A9LP1P4
A Story to Die For
http://www.amazon.com/A-Story-Die-For-ebook/dp/B0057G496I
The Codex
http://www.amazon.com/The-Codex-ebook/dp/B00930OU86