I get up and stretch my back. “Not bad, huh?”
“I don’t understand the final passage. What’s murder?”
I haven’t figured out how best to explain it yet, but I’ll give it a try. “It has to do with death.”
Dyoni’s forehead wrinkles. “So it’s when the people in this world get their call from the Every-Mother?”
“Sort of, but it’s not like in our world. Murder is death brought about solely by the decision and actions of another person.”
“I don’t get it. You know as well as I do that the Every-Mother often calls through people’s actions.”
I hope I can explain this correctly. “But in this world, dying isn’t a call from the Every-Mother. In this world, people can bring upon death all by themselves. They choose to end a life for their own motives, not because of a call from the Every-Mother.”
Dyoni’s eyes expand with horror. “You’ve created a world with no Every-Mother?”
I can see the fear building in his expression. “No, it’s just—”
Dyoni mutters a few words and then brings his knuckles together. I can feel the privacy charm over my home shatter. “MOTHER!”
In an instant, my hut is swarming with members of the Order. All around me are people in white uniforms, staring me down with haughty expressions.
“Mother, it’s true!” Dyoni blurts out, backing away from me and pressing against the wall. “At first I thought it was all just harmless mischief, but Eris is plotting against the Every-Mother. Everything you suspected is happening. His words go against everything we believe in!”
“Thank you, son,” a voice says from behind the circle of white bodies.
I don’t have time to react.
“Eris GreenValor.” Dyoni’s mother saunters though her white wall of minions. Her smugness is only thinly veiled by a stern expression. “Your plotting will not be tolerated. For your treason, you will be sentenced to live until your call at the—”
“It’s not treason!”
The room gasps. No one ever interrupts the Grand Edict when she’s speaking.
A large vein pulses in her neck. I can almost see her stomach knot up with rage. “How dare you interrupt me? Just who do you think you are? You go against the Every-Mother and you—”
“Silence!” I can feel the entire Order taking a collective breath. I have just sealed my fate. I can only hope that the story of Eris might resonate in her mind long after I’m gone. “You enter my home uninvited, on a whim, so you will hear what I have to say.”
I can feel a tugging at my voice, Dyoni’s mother trying to silence me.
“You have all the power of the Every-Mother behind you,” I continue, unfazed, “yet you are frightened to the point of madness by a few of my words?” I move to the center of the circle, closer to Dyoni’s mother.
Her eyes are icy with rage. “It’s not your words Eris, it’s your ideas.”
“You do not know my ideas.” I can feel the pull growing stronger, but my will is iron.
“I have heard enough. If my son says you are scribing blasphemy, then we need no further proof. It is an immediate transgression, garnering no right to a trial. You have committed the ultimate offense, and you know it.” Her eyes narrow. “You should never have turned your back on your gift.”
My mind flashes to my detective, my doctors, my firemen and my bankers. I know my real gift. My police chief, housekeeper, street sweepers, shopkeepers, and everyone else I’ve yet to discover. They have so much growing left to do. Their world is just coming into light, and I can’t let them fall back, ignored and unloved. None of us deserve that.
I look over at Dyoni and give him a warm smile, snapping a hand over my heart in salute. “Maybe one day you will get it, brother.”
He finds nothing to say, and I feel truly sorry.
The Grand Edict makes a sweeping gesture, and Dyoni disappears into a cloudy void. I know the magic well. He is now thousands of leagues from here, in a holding area. Dyoni won’t be able to manifest until it’s all over. Heck, I’d have done the same thing if I were in her position. If they really believe that I’m a traitor, then this won’t be pretty.
She signals to the rest of the order, who instantly cast a locking sphere around us. I can see the wavy disturbances in the air. They don’t want me going anywhere. They mean to immobilize me, body and mind, until they can make sure I won’t be able to scribe against the status quo ever again.
“There will be no more discussion.” She rolls her shoulders back, drops her chin, and gives me a searing look.
I know what’s coming.
She doesn’t.
If the Every-Mother did not want me to explore my imagination, she would never have blessed me with the ability to do so. It’s only the Order that does not approve of my scribing. My dreams are the enemy, and the Order means to murder them for their own motives.
But I know the Every-Mother is still behind me, and just like my detective, I can prove it.
Without much effort at all, I summon fire from the Every-Mother. The difference between my fire and Dyoni’s, however, is that my fire is not a wisp. Great lashes of flame blaze from each of my fingertips, scattering the white circle backward.
The Order assumes that I’m no longer the great Eris. They’re in for a nasty surprise. I was not imparting an empty message to Dyoni earlier. The truth is, I am more powerful, greater, than I’ve ever been. By understanding what isn’t real, I better understand what is.
Including magic.
***
Acknowledgments
First off, I’d like to thank my fantastic editor, Kate Kaynak, who has a tremendous talent for showing others the magic in themselves. Thanks to my family and friends and God.
Thanks to Rich Storrs, Vicki Ciaffone, Alex Bennett, Danielle Ellison, and everyone over at Spencer Hill Press: my writing family that redefines what it means to be a publishing company. Thanks to Katie Radzik for such great preliminary editing and copy editing. Special thanks to (the amazing) Stephanie Radzik, Jenn Sardina, Brian Keegan, Matthew Elmes, Josh Darfler, Justin Curcio, and everyone else who helped support and shape this novel. And thank you Shaul Hendel, M.S, L.Ac, who managed to save me from myself.
This is not like my first book, written mostly for the fun and excitement of it. This novel kept me alive, kept me going. It was, at the same time, my escape and my path back to life. I took my passion and wrapped myself so tightly around it that I forgot where I ended and the story began. This is not just the story of a football player turned sorcerer. This is the place where I rediscovered who I was.
We all go through hardship, and we all have our ways of coping. In these pages, you will find the best and worst of me, which I’m sure many of you can relate to. You can see my strengths and insecurities; my faith and failures; my relationships and my demons. This novel is the cross product of so much pain and hope, and eventually, hope won.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed this book.
Dan
September, 2011
About the Author
Daniel A. Cohen was just your average business student. Microeconomics, finance, marketing… you name it, he had to do a PowerPoint presentation on it. One dark and stormy night, he was bitten by the radioactive realization that memorizing business jargon could possibly be the most boring activity known to man.
After gaining eagle-eye vision, abs that could grate cheese, and a talent for imagining things (including his cheese-grating abs), he wrote his first novel and began his epic battle against the formidable business jargon. He continues to fight the good fight by playing saxophone and writing YA fantasy, forever hoping his Veil Trilogy will help inspire others to join his cause.
Find out more at www.spencerhillpress.com.
Copyright © 2012 by Daniel A. Cohen
Sale of the paperback edition of this book without its cover is unauthorized.
Spencer Hill Press
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, p
laces, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Contact: Spencer Hill Press, PO Box 247, Contoocook, NH 03229, USA
Please visit our website at www.spencerhillpress.com
First Edition: March 2012.
Cohen, Daniel A. 1989
Masters of the Veil: a novel / by Daniel A. Cohen – 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary:
High school senior Sam Lock accidentally manifests magic for the first time during the big football game. Not only does this destroy his chances for a football scholarship, now sorcerers—both good and evil—are searching for him.
The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this fiction:
La-Z-Boy, Plexiglas, PowerPoint
Cover design by K. Kaynak
ISBN 978-1-937053-02-4 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-937053-03-1 (e-book)
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
Masters of the Veil Page 35
