by Corwin, John
"Scrolls?"
He nodded. "Good for backup in case of emergency."
"Do they look like computer code?"
He shook his head. "Nah, they're written in Cyrinthian, the base language."
"Base language?"
Shelton huffed. "Look, I know you're curious, but I'm trying to dig through a disorganized mess of scriptlets until I find the code that'll help your dad."
I backed off. "Sorry."
Elyssa sidled up next to me, taking my hand in hers and resting her head on my shoulder as we both stared at the code springing up on the screen. "And I thought computer class was confusing," she said.
"It looks so familiar." I tilted my head. "I took a course in programming, and never saw anything like this. Even so, I think I've seen this sort of thing before." And then it occurred to me where I'd seen it. I unzipped my duffel and withdrew the flash drive. "Shelton, can you take a look at this?"
"For crying out loud, man, do you want me to get anything done here or not?"
"This is really important."
He sighed long and loud as he slipped the flash drive into his computer. The files popped up on the screen after a few seconds.
"Copy them over to your computer," I said, not wanting to part with my only copy.
He did as I requested before opening the folder named Copy of hash codes. "What the heck?" he said, opening one of the files. Instead of code mixed with gibberish, it came back as better organized code with question marks scattered throughout.
"It's a spell, right?" I said.
"This must be your mom's work," he said, voice full of admiration and maybe a bit of jealousy. "I've never seen such graceful code for nested arcane loops and functions."
Whatever that meant. "So what does it do?"
"Hang on a minute." He ran his finger down the code, pausing at the question marks. After a few more minutes of silence, he finally answered. "This code is missing a lot of custom runes."
"Define, 'rune', Shelton. You know I'm not familiar with this stuff."
"A rune would be the programming equivalent of a variable. Each question mark is a place where ACC is missing the variable or rune definition." He glanced up at me. "ACC stands for Arcane Code Crafter, the program most in the arcane community use for making complicated spells."
"This is nothing like Harry Potter," Katie said. "In fact, it sucks. Who'd want to have to use a computer to make spells?"
Shelton chuckled. "Lemme tell you, sunshine." He held out his hand and a tiny ball of light materialized, hovering just above his hand. "This is easy." Another ball of light appeared and the two rotated slowly around each other. "Still easy," he said. More glowing globes appeared, multiplying and popping out of each other until a galaxy of them filled the space above our heads, some globes forming little solar systems of their own, others gliding serenely around the space, doing their own thing, while others grew larger, forming suns, planets, and other heavenly bodies.
Katie's eyes were wide with wonder. "It's beautiful."
I stared at the amazing sight, my own mouth dropping open a fraction.
"This is hard," Shelton said, strain evident on his face for a few seconds before the galaxy flickered and winked out.
"Can you do it again?" Katie said. "It was so pretty."
"Sure thing, cupcake." He pulled out his smartphone, looked for a moment, and then pressed the screen. Again, the globes popped into existence, multiplying and spreading, except this time they turned into a much larger galaxy complete with realistic colors, nebulae and an amazing array of minute detail.
Gasps escaped our lips as we looked upon the wonders of Shelton's little homemade universe. Then I spotted something very familiar and walked over to look at it. A war raged between tiny spaceships, bright lasers and balls of green and red light exploding before my eyes.
"Those are Klingon and Federation ships," I said. "You're a nerd, Shelton, but, holy crap, do I love this."
Shelton's grin almost split his face. "You should watch the whole thing, man, it's sweet." A frown creased his face. "Except we're getting a little diverted here." He touched his phone and the display vanished.
Katie blinked her eyes as though coming from a trance. "How did you do that?"
"A script I wrote," he said. "I can do some things more easily with my mind, but when it comes to complicated spells with a lot of conditions and variables and parallel actions, it's a lot better just to script it out instead of going old-school and spending a day or so chanting out the entire thing."
"You can do any spell just by programming it?" I asked.
"Not exactly. Some spells require blood or bits of DNA, depending on what you're doing. And rituals usually have to be done the long way."
"Is the death mark something you could do with a scripted spell?"
He shrugged. "Not sure. I'll have to study it and see if I can reverse engineer it." Shelton pointed at the code on the screen. "Without the variables for your mom's spells, I won't be able to figure them out. Not without a lot of time and effort."
"And you have no idea what they do?"
"Actually, I think I know what this one does." He traced the last line in the code where a line of unfamiliar words were on the screen. "This spell is designed for mass murder."
Chapter 6
I staggered back a step, feeling an almost physical blow in my chest. My mom wanted to kill people? I couldn't imagine it being even remotely possible. My mom would never kill anyone, would she?
"What are you talking about in there?" Dad asked from the other room.
"Looking for some spells to help you out," I said, not wanting him to know about this just yet. I didn't want to have this particular conversation in front of the others. I leaned down to look at the computer screen again. "Can you find out what the missing runes are?"
Shelton shook his head. "Reverse engineering runes is a skill in and of itself. I have a friend who could do it, given enough time. And he might also be able to help me with the death mark."
"Will he help?"
"Oh, he loves this kind of stuff." Shelton emailed the guy's name and address to me. "Just make sure you tell him TP sent you." His face reddened slightly.
"TP?"
"Don't ask. I would call him and tell him you're coming except he doesn't use email or a cell phone."
I glanced at the guy's name, Mr. Smith. How original. "How does he communicate with anyone?"
"By mouth. He's kind of a conspiracy nut, but don't let that scare you off."
I laughed. By my new standards, conspiracy nuts ranked pretty low on the scary scale. "You sure he's still at this address?"
"Oh, that's not his home address. That's where he goes to buy comic books. A place called Trader Mike's."
"Are you telling me to wait around a comic book store until he shows?"
"Yeah. Just look for a medium-sized guy, dark hair, pale skin, about my age." Shelton pulled up a webpage and ran his finger down a schedule. "The latest edition of Clubfoot comes out tomorrow, so he'll be there. Back in the day he used to show up first thing in the morning and wait until they opened shop so he could snag a copy."
"Clubfoot doesn't sound like a very interesting comic book superhero."
"The main character is more of an anti-hero, truth be told."
"As in, he's kind of a jackass?"
"More like he murders people for sport."
I grimaced. "I guess there's no accounting for taste."
"You got that right."
Shelton pulled my mom's files back up and looked at them. I scanned through the lines of code. A few symbols repeated regularly along with a bunch of if-then statements. "Tell me this, Shelton. Could anyone take your smartphone and execute a spell on it? Make it work?"
"I really should put you through some lessons. Maybe it'd stop you from asking stupid questions."
"For crying out loud. Can't you just answer my question?"
He sighed and swiveled the computer chair to face me. "Smar
tphones aren't magic. Wands and staffs aren't magic. They're just focal points for the magic to work through. When I execute a spell, I have to run magic through the focus with my will and intent to make it do anything. I built micro-generators for my foci that can amp up the magical juice. And before you ask, no, the micro-generators don't make normal power—they generate and compound magical energy using the Law of Thaumodynamics." He quirked an eyebrow, probably waiting for the inevitable follow-up question.
Except I realized all I would do was pester him with questions until he got pissed off and ignored me. "When can we start lessons?"
"Whenever you want." He closed Mom's spells and crossed his arms. "Start out by contacting Smith. We'll decode this mess and maybe you'll pick up a thing or two along the way."
"What about my dad?"
"The tattoo on his neck is a rune as well. I'll email a picture of it you can show Smith. If you believe in fairy tales, he might just know how to get rid of it."
"Why don't you come with us? Wouldn't it be easier if he sees you?"
"I need to make sure the wards here are stable and find a mobile blocking spell so your dad can leave the circle. I can't be everywhere at once."
Elyssa took my arm. "We should locate the comic book store and scope it out first." She leaned into my ear and whispered the next part. "And I need to feed. Now."
My tummy erupted with a loud groan of agreement. I looked at Katie. "You ready to go home? I'll pay for a cab."
She looked away from the computer screen, her green eyes curious and bright. "You aren't planning to erase my memories are you?"
I chuckled. "No. But Shelton might have to send you to the supernatural rehab program the Arcane Council runs."
"You kidding me?" Shelton said with a snort. "This girl's taking it like a champ. Poor Linda is gonna be scarred for life."
Linda was the woman who'd had the misfortune to be kidnapped as a source of food for Dad when he'd been taken by the vampires. "I can't blame her."
"That's horrible," Katie said. "Does your program teach people about supernatural things?"
A wry smile worked its way onto Shelton's face. "More or less. Heck, maybe you should take it. Justin could probably benefit from it, too, seeing how he don't know squat about the Overworld."
"Fine," I said. "Give me the time and location and I'll take her for orientation."
"That's the spirit." He laughed with genuine delight and I wondered just what I was getting myself into.
"I guess I should get home," Katie said. "My parents are probably wondering why I'm not home yet. And we have school tomorrow."
I groaned. "I don't see a reason why I should bother going back."
"Because people will wonder," Elyssa said. "Questions will be asked." Her eyes grew very serious. "And you have unfinished business with certain elements."
"You mean Coach Burgundy and his promise to hurt my friends if I don't keep playing football." What had started out as punishment for me had morphed into a nightmare thanks to Burgundy and his good old boys club members: the sheriff and the chief of police. Thanks to my supernatural abilities—which they didn't know about—I had an unfair advantage on the field. I'd already helped my hopelessly bad team win one game. The coach and his buddies were counting on me to increase the winning streak and put more money in their pockets.
"That would be it," Elyssa said, her mouth set in a grim line.
"They made you play football by threatening you?" Katie said, eyes worried. "You should tell the police."
I blew out a sigh. "If only it were so easy." Especially since the local law had a hand in the pot. I looked at Dad's room. "I'm gonna tell him what's up and then we should go."
Elyssa touched me with a trembling hand. "Let's make it soon." Her face was sickly pale from hunger. I wasn't feeling that great myself.
I said goodbye to Dad, told him Shelton would fill him in on the plan, but we needed to feed.
Dad nodded. "Be careful, son. Soon as Shelton fixes this issue, I'm going to find the bastard responsible."
I wanted to tell him to sit tight because all his activities so far had only caused more problems. Either messing with the Conroys was really dangerous business or he had more enemies out there than he knew.
Shelton did his magic to make the stairs leading out of the place appear again and told me to email or call him if I needed to get back in. Then Elyssa, Katie, and I made our way out through the abandoned buildings and into the dark streets. We had to walk several blocks, past trudging bums, a few likely drug dealers, and a lot of empty, boarded up houses before finding a cab. We all hopped in and had the driver take us to downtown Decatur where Elyssa and I disembarked.
After I handed the cabby enough money to cover Katie's fare home, she got out and gave me a tight hug. "I'll see you at school tomorrow?"
I gave her a resigned look. "I guess so."
She smiled at Elyssa. "Thanks so much."
Confusion spread over Elyssa's face. "For what?"
"For the most interesting day of my entire life."
Elyssa stared at the cab as it vanished into the distance. "That girl is messed in the head if she thinks today was interesting."
I hugged her tight against me and kissed her cheek. "You have to admit she took it all really well."
"Yeah. I guess." Her body quaked for several seconds before growing still.
"Are you okay?"
She shook her head. "I'm at the verge of losing control. I can't hold on much longer." She gazed at me with eyes the black of night as her pupils dilated, erasing the violet irises.
I jerked back, surprised by the sudden change. I did not want to find out what happened when she lost control. "Where can we get you blood?"
"There are places throughout the city the Templars have set up, but I haven't seen my parents since we rescued your Dad yesterday. I need to go home before they send out search parties."
"Where do you live?"
Another tremor shook her body. "You can't come, Justin."
"I'm coming."
"No the hell you aren't. Are you crazy?" Her legs gave out and I barely managed to keep her upright.
"Tell me where, Elyssa. We need to get you blood now. You might not make it on your own."
She gave me an address a mile from my house. In fact, I knew exactly where it was because I'd passed the place dozens of times, never once knowing she lived there. I flagged a taxi and barked out the directions, giving him a hundred dollars to get us there fast. I think the guy must've been a rickshaw racer in his native country because he drove like a champ and dropped us off at the gates of the Big Creek Ranch, a horse ranch that somehow managed to survive the urban explosion on the edges of Decatur.
The wide metal gate was closed and locked, but the whitewashed ranch-rail fence wasn't much of a barrier so we climbed over it and trudged down the long asphalt driveway. Thick woods separated the edge of the ranch from the highway on our right. To the left stretched open pastures. The occasional whicker of a horse reached my ears. Antique-styled lamps lined the way, providing dim yellow light. We hadn't gone more than a few feet when I sensed someone approaching.
"Please don't say anything, Justin," Elyssa said, her muscles tense, her face even paler than before.
Up until that point I'd felt pretty confident. Right about then my nerves decided to use my stomach as a punching bag. Also, I was famished. It was foolish coming to this place without a full demon belly or whatever stored the psychic essence I stole from people. I considered turning tail and running, but ego and the desire to keep whatever shreds of manliness I had in Elyssa's eyes powered my legs onward, toward whatever was about to meet us.
A guy who looked to be Shelton's age appeared from the shadows in the woods, his black outfit similar to what Elyssa had worn during our little jaunt against the vampires, perfect camouflage. He held a katana at the ready in one hand. Once his eyes settled on Elyssa, the sword vanished with a snick as he slid it expertly back into its sheath. He
wore his thick dark hair slicked back. Long mutton-chop sideburns ran down his face, making him look older than he really was, not to mention a lot more redneck.
"Where have you been?" he asked, running to Elyssa and putting his hands on her shoulders. His voice was low and rough, with a southern drawl.
She gave him a weary smile. "I'm fine, Ryland. I need some food. That's all."
Ryland gave me a wary look, eyes narrow and full of suspicion. "Who's this?" He sniffed the air as if testing my deodorant, which had probably failed by this point.
The guy looked so familiar to me that I opened my mouth to blurt my name in automatic response.
"He's a friend," she said, cutting me off before I made such a stupid mistake. "Please, just get me a pack. I'm on the verge."
His eyes widened as he took in her eyes. "Good lord, sugah. How in the world did you hold off the hunger?" He shook his head. "I'll be right back." With that, he blurred away into the darkness, heading for a tall manor-style house on the slight rise at the end of the driveway.
Elyssa stumbled and almost fell before I caught her in my aching arms. The day's activities were catching up to me, although I wasn't nearly in as bad a state as Elyssa. She'd already been peaked after nearly dying during my Dad's rescue the night before. I should have sent her home the first chance we'd had. What was I thinking, letting her run around like she was in full health?
But she hadn't complained a bit. Hadn't once tried to leave me. Wouldn't even let me send her away. My heart swelled with love for my raven-haired goddess. I couldn't imagine life without her. I looked toward the house and a sense of dread whittled away at me. First, I had to win over her family. Considering how much Elyssa had despised me when she'd first found out I was an incubus, I couldn't imagine how much harder it would be to get her parents to like me, or at the very least accept the fact I loved their daughter.
Elyssa's love for me had won out over her hatred for incubi. But if she'd never had the chance to befriend me before discovering I wasn't entirely human, she might never have loved me or given me a chance to even be near her. This was the challenge her parents posed. They didn't know squat about me, well, except her mom had cut my hair before knowing I was demon spawn.
