Swift (Strangetown Magic Book 1)

by Al K. Line

  I felt confused. I wasn't sure how much I'd said when I called but guess I'd said more than I'd thought.

  "Yes, and yes. I told you all this, right?" Levick nodded. "Robin, you can stay here. You don't have to come."

  "My little sister saving Strangetown from the baddies? No way am I missing out."

  "If you're sure?" She nodded.

  "Don't even think about trying to ditch me," added Pumi. "And after this is all over, and we kick their asses, I would like to take you out for dinner."

  Right there, right then, covered in dust, dry blood, shoulder throbbing, head a mess, belly bloated and pushing against my jeans uncomfortably, I thought that was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. "What, like Normal people do?"

  "No, like Strange people do. I'll even buy dessert."

  "That sounds perfect."

  And then I fell over. Maybe it was just the shock of being asked out on a date.

  *

  "I'm okay, I'm okay," I mumbled from my position on the floor, squinting at concerned faces peering down at me like I was a new species just discovered.

  Pumi grabbed one arm gently and Robin took the other, helping me to my feet.

  "You're a mess. You need to rest," said Levick.

  "I'm fine. Just got a sugar rush from all the food. Give me a minute and I'll be okay. It's just an ice-cream comedown, nothing else." Look, it was worth a try. But then I really wanted more ice-cream.

  "No, you won't be fine. Look at you, you're covered in elf blood." Robin brushed ineffectively at my clothes and hair, and as I winced when her fingers tangled in my usually shiny locks I realized my face was kind of glued into position, dried blood cracking as I frowned. I think maybe I also had peanut butter stuck to my nose and I may have put a finger to my chin and discovered mayonnaise—had I eaten it straight from the jar?

  "Maybe a quick shower?" Robin nodded and took me off to the bathroom while the others looked on, concerned.

  She helped me remove my clothes, turned on the water, and I stepped in. So many showers in one day, who's a clean and hygienic girl, eh? I let the warm water and the suds wash away some of the hurt, felt better as the food began to digest and its energy helped restore my magic and my mind, and as the water draining away turned from brown to clear it took with it my confusion and my insecurities.

  As Robin handed me a towel, smiling at me and brushing my hair as I dripped on the tiles, I knew everything would be all right.

  "So, got a date then, eh?" She winked.

  "Yeah. Don't sound so surprised, I do get them now and then."

  "When was the last one?"

  "Um, not sure. There was... No, hang on." Guess it had been a while.

  "Come on, I got you some clean clothes. Here." So I got dressed and prepared for battle.

  Oh, I had a pee, too. You can't go saving the world on a full bladder, not in Strangetown.

  Time to Clean up the City

  Outside was a different world.

  Strangetown was alive, noisier than I had known it since the Rift. It was as if hidden inhabitants had crawled out of the woodwork in the city's hour of need and were intent on saving it.

  It buoyed us all, our little band of misfits. Two witch sisters, the head of the Justices in the city and the Queen's right-hand man, a demon with a penchant for all things retro, and a gladiator monster shifter, all stood in the street surrounded by the even more weird and wonderful inhabitants and visitors of our city, our home.

  Magic was rich and varied, the Pool awakening to the calls, giving what it could, gathering all around us like a storm ready to break apart the world as humans and unknowable Strange shouted and cheered, freaked out and laughed, talked quietly or looked for guidance.

  We, all of us, made our way to ground zero. I just hoped it was enough, because if it went wrong, if things didn't go according to plan, we would all be gathered in the same place. What better opportunity to wipe us out than if the Rift brought a mass of dark elves to take our world away from us?

  We passed through the streets, the closed stores and the abandoned office blocks. The way became congested as more people heard what was to be done and either stood watching as if it was a carnival, or followed along hoping to help. Many stayed behind, and who could blame them for that? But many more were fired up—something was finally happening, something was being done.

  My shoulder tingled, telling me that other Justices were closing in, and it gave me some small comfort, but it was my sister, and Mack, and even new friends Levick and Pumi that really gave me courage and hope. I felt like I was on top of the world, energy restored somewhat, magic all around me, everything alive and the city awoken from a half-sleep, ready to pounce and change the world.

  There were cameras and there were reporters, local TV crews, even a helicopter—now that was brave! I had no doubt this would be broadcast. What the government had failed to do we would do ourselves.

  We were the outcasts, the abandoned city while the world tried to cope with the utterly unique visitors. Now we were uniting, dealing with it, and they would watch and they would take the credit somehow, I was sure. But we would know, and so we passed from the crowded streets into a wasteland, over rubble and into a large dusty arena of nothingness. Just a damn ugly hole in the middle of the city.

  Amassed were a small group of elves, endless Strange, Normal and magic humans, and more and more crowded in, the few pure elves spread around the hole evenly, every space taken by others and by me and my friends. Behind us, the crowds grew deep.

  I spotted Yuki, shirtless, grinning like a madman, surrounded by his clientele and the criminal elements of the city. The shifters were out in force and I caught sight of Faith. She winked, then was lost to the crowd. Face after face, friend, foe, young and old, they would fight for their freedom. The city was ours and we would do everything we could to save it.

  Murmurs rose to shouts. From the edges of the crowd came the terrible cries of the dark elves, the sound burning my ears and my mind. They were chanting, calling as I supposed their kind were from the other side. Summoning, or creating, the Rift, compelling it to deliver them to us.

  Fights broke out in an instant and magic split the air along with screams.

  Then the good elves began to chant in unison, and silence enveloped the crowd as though all voices but theirs were unworthy. Even the dark elves were entranced for a while, before they wailed and took up their own song with renewed vigor.

  Nobody knew what to do, how to act. After all, the dark elves weren't actually attacking now, and for many the thought of bashing in the head of another when they weren't physically threatening you was unthinkable.

  All it took was one, though. I heard a scream, saw an elf go down under a blow from a large wizard. The call to arms was taken up.

  Then the world cracked.

  Sonic booms thundered across the sky, echoing off splintered buildings, down narrow alleys and wide streets, smashing windows all across the city and toppling buildings still standing precariously after the first Rift.

  Again, and again, like thunder in your soul, vibrating my teeth until I felt my eyes would pop from my sockets and stare back at me accusingly. My mind screamed, "You did this, Swift. What the hell is wrong with you?"

  We had to act. Everything was breaking, our reality falling apart. Much more of this and the chance would be lost. I knew to the core of my very being we would never get a second chance.

  I shouted to the elves, to call for the Rift with all their strength. To take them home and all other Strange with it.

  "Call it, all of you. Everyone who wants to go, call with your native tongue, call for the Rift. Take the power from the dark elves and bring it here. Take from the Pool with all you are worth and let the Rift come and repair the damage it has done."

  Nobody reacted for a moment, then the elves chanted louder and everyone joined in.

  But it wasn't powerful enough. I knew it and so did they. There was something lacking.

>   Gravel appeared by my side, looking composed, even amused, his power almost overwhelming. He nodded at me and then shouted, "Humans too. All of you, call for the Rift, call for it to take the lost home, back to their worlds."

  So we all called, we all shouted, and things got really intense.

  Those who Remain

  Something didn't feel right. I just knew this was wrong. My whole body vibrated in a weird way, telling me I was close to the edge, to being torn apart, not even atoms remaining. Just gone. Never was, never will be, not even a memory.

  As the Pool hummed and the magic warped reality, I knew others felt it too. I reached out and held Robin's hand tight, two sisters against the world. I could think of worse ways to go.

  The chanting continued. Strange calling forth the true nature of magic in a thousand different languages. My ears were on fire, my mind screaming and reeling at the words that should never be heard by human ears. I was only able to cope because of the other voices partially drowning them out until it was a crazed jumble of incoherent hope.

  Everyone jumped, never pausing with their calls, as a crack like reality had split apart opened all of our worlds simultaneously. The sky exploded into blinding red light then blinked off, leaving it darker than a troll's cave.

  There were screams as flesh, human flesh, lumps and mangled bodies, heads and limbs and just bits, rained down, thud, thud, thud, and the magic was gone, replaced with utter horror at what we'd done.

  With a clap of thunder as the tear left, there was a silence so deep, so profound, I thought I'd lost my hearing.

  It was eerie. We stood there, immobile, the absence of sound as deafening as the Rift, as bodies fell like hell itself was emptying.

  "Again," I shouted, although it felt like a whisper. "We must remain strong. These are just those that left our world when the Rift opened, but it will not happen to you when you return. You are part of our world, but we are not part of yours. We cannot go there but you can, you can go home. Home!"

  There was hesitation, I saw it, but then the trolls bellowed, heads turned upward, arms stretched for the sky like they could grab the Rift and drag it down, open it up with their huge hands. The elves screeched and their power shone bright, and as broken bodies steamed, hissed, and popped, Strange human and non-human joined in the call and magic twisted reality and time yet again.

  This had to be it, this had to work. We had brought back those taken to the other worlds, long dead, now we just had to send our visitors back.

  Frantic dark elves screamed their objections, but they were drowned out, ignored or beaten, and our voices rose ever louder, impossible to resist.

  The Rift came in earnest then. It was made real by the collective consciousness of those that desired nothing as much as to return home.

  Crack.

  A fierce, scorching, blindingly brilliant tornado whirled around us all, then silence for we were in the eye of this terrible storm.

  It grew, reaching higher and higher, colors scrambled like paint thrown at the vortex. Visions of a thousand worlds cold and frozen, hot and fiery, beautiful and terrible all flickering and fluctuating as Strange called forth more magic as they glimpsed their home worlds.

  The elves, now down in the pit, formed a tight circle, right beneath the Rift, called as one, a different language and one I had never heard. Their secret language, full of magic too potent to use unless the need was dire, but the word rang through the crowd, and they shone bright and called louder and louder, the chorus taken up in one language, the ancient elven mother tongue, the meaning clear as I joined in the summoning.

  "Home," we chanted. "Home, home, home," and things changed once again. Bodies elongated, flesh was ephemeral as Strange became not matter but pure magic, part of the Universe, taken by elemental forces that came at such a mighty summoning.

  "It's working, it's working," Robin cried above the roar, and she was right.

  "Hold on tight, here it comes." I gripped hard to Robin and saw Gravel smiling as the magic became too much to bear and I felt my knees buckle, but Pumi caught me, smiled, and I knew everything would be all right.

  He held my other hand and we all cried out as something switched. With an otherworldly spasm that took all sound, and all magic brought by the Rift, the bodies of the displaced Strange became light and spirit and shot up into the air.

  They were gone.

  We fell to the ground, all of us, the burden lifting, energy dissipating. Dust billowed and humans moaned, and so did other voices.

  Had it really worked? Were they free? Us too?

  I turned to see if my friends were all still there. They were. Mack too, smiling.

  The air was thick with dust, whirling and spiraling, making it impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction.

  Before I had time to think, I stood, knowing I had to see, to be certain. I reached up and with all I had left inside of me I gathered the fading magic still strong in the air, more than I'd ever thought possible to handle, and I cracked the clouds far above.

  It rained.

  Fast and hard rain fell, gathering the dust in the air as it came, cleansing us, soaking us through. As I pushed my hair out of my eyes and blinked hard, I lowered my gaze and waited as the storm stopped as rapidly as it had started.

  The sun shone hard and strong. Water sparkled off bodies and earth at the decimated ground zero.

  It had worked! Only a few dozen Strange remained. Confused, I turned to Mack, my eyes questioning.

  "I decided to stay. It's kind of groovy here and I dig the vibe."

  "Good. And I hope part of the reason is because you can't bear to leave me."

  "Maybe a little, babe."

  "But how? How are you still here?"

  "Guess it's the strength of emotion. My bond with you." Mack bowed his head. Was he actually embarrassed? Maybe he was becoming human, sort of.

  I have to say, I would have missed him if he'd left. There was no sign of the elves, every one of them was gone. What few creatures remained were standing beside humans, smiling or trying to smile if they had the face for it, hugging carefully to avoid damage from claws and teeth, surrounded by the dead bodies of humans now returned.

  This was no perfect success story, but they had been taken where they could not go, and at least some families could give a proper burial and say goodbye one final time.

  Our world was ours once more, the balance restored, and for that we were all thankful. What about the others, the ones not close to the Rift, were they still here? No, the Pool felt different now. I could feel their absence in the magic.

  It took a while to disperse the crowds. Ghouls moaned about the flesh being too fresh and turned their noses up at it, zombies salivated and lamented the fact the flesh wasn't quite fresh enough, a couple of demons started arguing about whether thermal or metallurgical bituminous coal was best if you had guests over. Gravel got his staff to go around selling cameras so people could record for posterity such a momentous occasion. Some things never change, and I was glad.

  Me and my friends, we went home. Levick disappeared pretty quickly, I guess to go report to the Queen, see if he could salvage his position. I didn't doubt for a moment that she had orchestrated a lot of the witches and wizards and many confirmed she had sent them to help, so there was that.

  Then it was me, Robin, Pumi, and Mack. Mack walked on ahead, happy he was one of only a few Strange from another realm left in our world. I held on tight to the hands of Pumi and Robin.

  I think for the first time ever, I felt like I had a real family. Yes, it was dysfunctional, and yes, it was very early days for me and Pumi, but there was hope, and sometimes that's more than enough, more than we could ever dream of.

  Especially in Strangetown.

  The End

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  Read the Dark Magic Enforcer Series for more magical mayhem from Al K. Line.

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  Al K. Line, Swift (Strangetown Magic Book 1)