Broken by Magic

by Rebecca Danese

  “Stop—” I try to say, but before I can everything goes black.

  At first there’s nothing. Just a lingering echo of my own voice telling Giovanni to stop. Then another sound emerges from the darkness. Kind of a crackling and popping sound. Then a roar. Fire. I open my eyes to find them filled with the image of flames. Smoke stings my eyes, and they water painfully.

  I try to call out, but my lungs are filled with it, and I can only cough again and again. I cover my mouth with my shirt to see if that will help and stumble to a crumbling window in the room I suddenly find myself in.

  I was sure I was outside on the street a moment ago, but I dismiss that thought immediately. I must have been dreaming.

  Flames lick the blackened window frames, and slowly, as if walking through the world in slow motion, I realise that the building I’m in is on fire. I look to see if the window is a reasonable escape route, but then I see the view beyond. The whole city is on fire. Now I can hear the screams and cries from people all around me begging to be saved. Sirens in the distance. I shake my head. There’s no way there will be enough fire engines in London to put out this blaze.

  For some reason, I’m not panicking. I should be, because undoubtedly I’ll be burned alive in a few minutes if I don’t move. Something in the distance catches my eye. The glass of a distant skyscraper glitters in the firelight. It towers above many of the other buildings, its roof slanted at a peculiar angle, as if the designer was confused when he put it together. As I look at it I realise that I’m actually standing on the top floor, staring at the destruction of my city, and not in the tiny apartment building I thought I was in.

  It’s much cooler here, and I wander around barefoot on the hard glass floor.

  “What have you done?” Ella screams from somewhere.

  ‘Ella?’ I call, or at least try, but the words don’t make it out of my mouth. ‘Where are you?’ I run across the floor, searching for the source of the sound, and turn a corner to find her on her knees, a small group of people dotted around her. I recognise Edward’s silhouette, staring out of the window. I couldn’t understand why it was so cold, but now I see that one of the panes of glass is actually broken, allowing the smoky wind to blow in.

  “I don’t know,” he replies, and I think I hear his confidence falter.

  “It was necessary, remember?” Cassie steps forward and puts a hand on his shoulder.

  “Yes. Yes, it was necessary,” he replies, but he doesn’t sound convinced. He looks down at Ella on the floor, her body shielding someone or something from view. I think that Ed looks sad for a moment, but then his face changes, and dark resolve replaces any sign of regret.

  “Time for phase two.” He turns to leave, all the others going with him. He turns before he gets to the door to the stairwell. “Sorry about Curtis, Ella.”

  She screams, and the force of her grief nearly pushes me over. The Magic Circle members, as I realise they must be, are forced through the door and tumble away.

  She cries then, in deep, wracking sobs, and I finally get my legs to work and take me over to where she’s crouched.

  I know I don’t want to know, but I can’t help myself. I step around her, willing myself to look.

  There, on the floor, head on her lap and very much dead, is me.

  CHAPTER 6

  I open my eyes and groan. The dream I was having was awful. I sit up, grateful that the room I’m in isn’t on fire, and try to work out where I am. There’s some battered furniture and a couple of laptops on a dining table, as well as a shelf full of DVDs and video games. I seem to be lying on a couch that is pushed up against the window.

  “You’re at my place,” Marco says from the armchair in the corner. I start when I see him and wonder if he has the power of invisibility as well as being able to walk through walls. He’s playing on his PlayStation, shooting people fiercely, with his thumbs hitting the controller at blinding speed. I can’t remember the last time I played. My parents have probably sold my console to make room under the TV.

  “What am I doing here?” I croak, wondering how long I’ve been unconscious for.

  “My brother didn’t know where else would be best. He didn’t want to take you back to the club, and Agnes wants you out of the way.” He shrugs as if to say I can work out the rest for myself.

  “I see. And what are you, my babysitter?”

  “Something like that,” he says glumly.

  I feel too worn out to be angry now, but I know it’ll all come back to me the moment I see Agnes, unless I get to Ella first. Maybe she’ll be able to talk some sense into her crazy sister. Why the hell would I stop Ella from leaving London? It’s all I’ve been able to think about for the past few months. I shake my head.

  “Internal debate?” Marco says.

  “Something like that,” I sigh and rub my temples. “What Exactly is Gio’s power? I’ve got a stinking headache.”

  “Image transfer. He’s like a walking storage device for people’s thoughts. He can copy what’s in one person’s head and stick it in another. It kind of messes with you the first time though,” he admits.

  “So, my nightmare...?”

  “Was Agnes’s vision if it involves London being burned to the ground and you being dead.”

  So, everyone saw that too.

  “Jesus. I’ve got to find Ella,” I say, trying to stand and finding myself flat on the floor.

  “Oh, should’ve warned that your legs don’t work right now,” Marco says casually.

  “What? Why not?” I try to drag myself back onto the sofa with difficulty.

  “Side effect of Gio’s influence. You’ll walk in a few hours probably.”

  I feel like I should be more worried, but less and less is surprising me these days.

  “What am I supposed to do until then?”

  “I dunno. I’m just here to make sure you don’t hurt yourself. Beyond that, you’re on your own.” The volume of his game is low, but I can still hear gun shots and grunts as he kills some other online player’s character.

  I shake my head again and pull my phone out of my jacket pocket, a little surprised that it’s got any life left in it. According to the clock it’s 6 PM, and it’s been more than ten hours since I left the house, and Ella, behind. It feels more like a week.

  Three missed calls from Mum and a message from Matthew Avers show on the home screen. I should call her, but I don’t think saying that I’m stranded somewhere in East London and can’t walk is what she’ll want to hear right now. It’ll have to wait. The message from Matthew is typically reporter like. Thanks for the meeting. Let’s meet again soon. Maybe we can meet up and visit Marvin? Think about my idea of doing a story with your girlfriend. I’m annoyed with myself at how easily I get sucked in. He’s obviously been playing all the sides, speaking to Edward then interviewing me. Ed probably knows where his dad is too. The guilt from meeting a reporter and being caught by the Magic Circle is too much, particularly now I see that Avers isn’t actually taking sides as he’d led me to believe. He’s going wherever the story is.

  I curse aloud and shove my phone back in my pocket.

  “Bad news?”

  For someone who apparently doesn’t care whether I live or die, he’s being very chatty. “Just realised all over again how I messed up royally,” I say, angry at myself more than anything.

  “Maybe not,” Marco says before swearing and throwing his controller on the floor. “I lost,” he adds. He gets up from his armchair and leaves the room for a moment, coming back with a glass of water and a sachet of something.

  “What’s this?”

  “Electrolytes. It’ll help the headache, trust me.”

  I take them gratefully, and he pulls up a chair at the dining table that currently seems to serve as an office. For someone that’s almost the same age as me, we seem so different.

  “Had a lot of Gio’s power used on you?” I ask as I swirl the powder in the water.

  “I’ve had a lot of hangover
s,” he smirks. “But yeah, it’s not fun. It’s okay when it’s just his pictures, but when it’s someone else’s via him it seems to be more... uncomfortable. And Agnes’s visions are a whole other story.”

  “Tell me about it,” I mutter, draining the glass.

  “If you suddenly need to puke, please tell me. I don’t want cleaning duty as well.”

  “Does that happen a lot?”

  “Only when you first stand up.” He takes my empty glass and goes back to the kitchen to refill it.

  “Why are you doing this?” I ask as he hands it back to me. I can’t believe how thirsty I am.

  “Well, as I see it, if I don’t do what I’m told then we’re all going to hell. Literally. The city will be an actual fiery inferno if Edward gets to your girl.”

  “But what am I supposed to do here, stay until Agnes spirits her away and never lets me see her again?” My chest hurts at the thought.

  “Well, I think no matter what you do she’ll predict it. I wasn’t told to stop you leaving. And even if I was, I wouldn’t. I’m not into trying to stop people from doing what they want and all that. It’s too Society-like.” There’s a hint of bitterness there, which piques my curiosity.

  “You aren’t a fan, I’m guessing?”

  “Pffft. No. Gio wanted to go to the meetings, see if he could help our uncle and the Duke bring down the Magic Circle. But it only took me a second to realise that if the Duke’s son was in it then there was something weird going on. I never liked the guy.”

  “The Duke?”

  He nods. “Yeah, he was the manipulating sort. I saw it from the get-go.”

  “You’re smarter than I was,” I admit, sighing.

  “Maybe, but what good did it do me? I still got sucked in. I love Lorenzo like a brother, and Gio and I have had a good thing going at the club, but no matter where I look, there’s crap. Normals fighting Augurs. Augurs fighting Augurs. Drugs. Crime. Violence. I’m sick of it.” It’s his turn to sigh.

  “Tell me about it. I wish there was somewhere that people who don’t want to fight could go. I’ve tried to convince Ella a million times to leave. Travel up north or even to Europe. Christ, I’d live in Siberia if it meant she was safe.”

  “I bet. And she probably said she couldn’t leave all her friends and all the Augurs behind because she needed to save them,” he half jokes.

  “Something like that. That’s why I don’t understand Agnes trying to get me out of the way. Surely she knows that there’s nothing I want more than Ella out of harm’s way?”

  He shrugs. “She probably just thinks that if you’re not in the picture then she’ll have done something to change that vision of hers. But we all know she’s out of her tree. We probably would be too if we kept seeing bits of future all the time.”

  He makes a good point, but I still can’t help but take it personally. Agnes hasn’t liked me from the start, and she’s made that damned clear. We sit in silence while I contemplate my options. If Augurs could just carry phones around with them without blowing up, it would be so much easier to find Ella, but that failing, I’m going to have to do it the old-fashioned way.

  I prod my legs a few times to see if they respond, relieved to find that they do. After several weeks of being numb from my spine breaking, I don’t fancy revisiting that sensation. I wiggle my toes in my trainers with a little success.

  “Hey, I can move my toes,” I say, pleased with myself.

  “That’s impressive.”

  “Maybe I can get out of your hair sooner than we thought,” I say, trying to stand and wobbling like a newborn giraffe before flopping back onto the sofa.

  Marco chuckles and slaps me on the arm. “Not quite yet, I don’t think. It’s okay though, I don’t mind the company,” he smiles.

  “I never thought you liked me much to be honest. Not at the restaurant,” I admit.

  “I didn’t. But what you did to Munday was impressive as hell, and I don’t really hold a grudge.” He shrugs. “You’ve never done anything bad to me. I just wasn’t keen on having a Normal in a workplace full of Augurs. We had to be more careful while you were around.”

  I nod, thinking back at how I was completely oblivious to everything then.

  “So, me being in your club wasn’t super helpful either, I guess.”

  “You got that right. If anyone had found out, the whole club would be in jeopardy. It’s the one place that Augurs can go and just be themselves. None of us are perfect, but when we’re not fighting for our lives, we can get along pretty well you know,” he says.

  “I’m really sorry. If I’d realised that, I would have put my foot down and told Agnes I’d wait outside. She wouldn’t let me.” I remember her saying that I’d get in trouble if left alone, but it seems that getting in trouble is what I do, whether left alone or not.

  “No hard feelings, alright?” Marco says, holding a hand out by way of a truce. I shake it, relieved to have made peace.

  “Would you be willing to help me find Ella?” I ask hesitantly. It’s not like we really know each other, but Marco seems to have his heart in the right place, and I sure as hell could use a friend right now.

  “Probably not the best idea, considering that my brother could come back at any minute. But,” he says, seeing my face fall, “I’m a bit sick of being treated like a baby. Gio has an overprotective streak, and it’s getting on my nerves at the moment, so what the hell? I’ll help you find her. Where do you think she might be?”

  That’s a good question. I shake my head again and try to think where they all might be. It’s unlikely that Ella, Jer, Lou, Mumbe and David would split up, probably even with Beryl in tow.

  “I don’t think she’d go back to her place. Her and Agnes had a flat share, and I doubt that’s the safest place for them to be. Plus there isn’t enough room to swing a cat in there.” I drum my fingers on the armrest of the sofa. “You don’t have a phone number for their old place, do you?” I remember Jer saying that most Augurs have landlines, probably keeping the phone companies alive with their business.

  Marco pulls out his own phone and flicks through the contacts.

  “You carry a mobile?” I ask, surprised.

  He laughs at my expression. “Not all of us blow up, mate. My abilities seem to work no matter whether I’ve got it on me or not, but it does get a bit hot when I walk through walls,” he says with a smile. Huh. You learn something new every day, I think to myself.

  He finds a few numbers that might help, and I go through the motions of dialling each one, using my own phone so that I can save them as I go along.

  Ella and Agnes’s line just rings and rings with no answerphone. We try Lou and Jer’s, and all we get is Jer’s cheery Irish voice telling us to leave a message. Mumbe and David’s uses the automated answerphone supplied by the phone company, and feeling desperate, I leave a message.

  “Guys, it’s Curtis. Please call me, or give me a sign of where you are. Please.” Not knowing what else to say, I leave my phone number and hang up, leaning back into the cushions.

  “This is hopeless. Why would they be sitting next to their phones waiting for me to call? Last they knew, Agnes was supposed to bring us for a big happy reunion somewhere in town, which would have been fine if she hadn’t gone and had her vision.”

  “Maybe David will answer his phone?”

  “Wait, what? David has one too?”

  “Yeah, he’s a doctor. It’s compulsory,” Marco says.

  “That’s great,” I say excitedly, punching in the number. “How did you manage to get your hands on it?”

  “You never know when you might need a healer.” He winks. “Speaking of which, your cheek is coming out in a massive bruise.” I touch it gingerly and realise it’s where Edward punched me.

  “Damn. I had a run in with Ed Clarence this morning. I’ve gotten so used to having someone heal all my cuts and bruises, I didn’t even think about it.” I hold my phone up to dial in the last chance of easily finding my friends.
The phone begins to ring, and I pause, holding it up to my ear. Why would he have it on now, after all this time of being away? Maybe he left it in London when we went up to his Mum’s house. It goes on for ages before I hear a click and expect to hear his voicemail kick in.

  But there’s nothing, only silence.

  “Hello?” I say, wondering if maybe someone is listening. “David, is that you?”

  “It’s him,” I hear David call out. Next I hear the sound of people in the background cheering, then the phone being grabbed and Ella’s voice. Relief floods through me when I hear her speak.

  “Curtis?”

  “God, it’s good to hear your voice,” I reply.

  “Yours too. You scared the hell out of me. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, generally speaking,” I reply, not wanting to go into details just now.

  “Is Agnes with you?”

  My heart sinks. How do I tell her that her sister is trying to keep us apart? “Not right now,” I say, avoiding the subject. “Where are you?”

  “We’re at one of Beryl’s town houses in Chelsea. Can I come and get you?”

  “No! I mean, no. Better I come to you. Agnes didn’t want you out and about in case someone spotted you.”

  “Magic Circle?” she asks.

  “Yeah, I’ll explain more when I see you. But stay out of sight for now, okay?”

  “Sure. You sound odd, are you sure you’re alright?”

  “I’ll be better when I’m with you,” I say, and Marco makes a gagging sound, for which he gets a slap on the arm from me. “I’m with Marco Gregorio,” I add.

  “Really? How’d that happen? Wait, don’t worry - you’ll tell me when you get here. I can’t wait.” Her voice is breathy, and I feel a pang of excitement, the kind I used to get before we were going out.

  “Me neither. What’s the address?”

  She rattles it off, and I repeat it, Marco writing it down on a piece of paper as I go along. We say our goodbyes, and I stand up without thinking, managing to make it a few steps before I’m caught by surprise and fall on my face again.

  “Whoa there, Mr. Enthusiastic. You’re doing pretty well considering it’s been maybe an hour since Gio touched you, but you’re going to need help getting down our stairs if you’re planning to leave right now,” Marco says, putting one of my arms over his shoulder and propping me up. He grabs his phone and keys with one hand and half drags me out of the flat at my insistence.