Wizard Born: Book One of the Wizard Born Series

by Geof Johnson

  Fred was no longer a little girl, she was a young woman, and feeling her body pressed against his, Jamie could tell how much of a woman she’d become. He could hear his mother’s voice in his head — she’s beautiful, with lovely red hair, emerald green eyes, and a face like an angel — the Dream Fairy, exactly as his mother had described her. How did Mom know?

  Jamie didn’t remember much about that night, but he would remember that moment, that realization, the rest of his life.

  Fred was the Dream Fairy.

  * * *

  Standing on Fred’s front porch, Jamie tried to figure out how to say goodnight. “I’ve never done this before,” he said. “I guess I should say thanks and I had a good time. Goodnight.”

  He started to turn away, but Fred said, “Not so fast. You’re supposed to kiss me goodnight.”

  “Oh. Okay.” He leaned to kiss her on the cheek but Fred stopped him.

  “Uh uh. On the lips. A real kiss.”

  Jamie started to protest, but realized she was right. He put his arms around her waist, and she put hers around his neck. He wanted to say something but Fred didn’t give him the chance as she pulled his face to hers.

  A first real kiss is always memorable, but Jamie wouldn’t remember that her lips were soft and moist. Nothing special about that. Or that she tasted vaguely of spearmint and smelled like flowers. What he remembered was the tingle, the warm, pleasant, magical tingle, the same tingle they’d felt before they were born, when their mothers’ bellies touched. Their lips lingered that way for what seemed like eons or only a second, neither wanting to break the spell, until Jamie finally pulled away.

  “Oh, my,” Fred whispered.

  Jamie let go of her waist, stepped back and said, “Now can I go?”

  Fred nodded.

  Jamie walked down the three steps from the porch but stopped at the bottom. He turned and said, “Fred, I wasn’t telling the truth when I said I had a good time. I had a great time, a really, really great time. But I mean it when I say you need to keep your distance from —”

  “I know what you’re going to say, and I’m not afraid of some crazy wizard.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying. He’s coming, I know, and soon. Maybe weeks, maybe days, but he’s coming. The dreams are getting more intense, and I know something’s about to happen. So you and Rollie both need to stay clear until this gets sorted out. He won’t hesitate to kill anybody and everybody around me when he finds me.”

  “Well, what about your parents? Are you going to run away?”

  “I thought about it.”

  A look of shock crossed Fred’s face.

  “But it would break my mom’s heart, and my dad would just track me down. He’s a detective, you know. I haven’t figured out what to do.” He looked at his feet for a moment, then back at her. “I really care about you, and I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you. So if I’m avoiding you, it’s not ’cause I’m mad or I don’t like you anymore, it’s ’cause I care. Okay?”

  “Okay.” She watched him walk down her driveway before stepping inside her house.

  * * *

  Fred closed the door behind her, crossed her arms on her chest and twirled giddily.

  She heard her mother’s voice from the sofa. “So, how was it?”

  Fred made a swooning gesture.

  “That good, huh?” her mother said.

  * * *

  Fred heard what Jamie said about avoiding her, but she didn’t really hear it, because she didn’t want to. The next week at school, she found out he meant it. He wouldn’t sit by her on the bus, wouldn’t walk with her between classes, and wouldn’t see her after school. If she called him, he made excuses to cut it short.

  It was tearing her apart. After the third week, on the verge of tears, she called Gina and asked for help. Gina’s advice was simple: Don’t wait for Jamie. If another boy asks you out, you should go.

  Two weeks later, Kyle Lattimer asked her to the prom.

  She accepted.

  * * *

  The first Saturday in April was prom night, and Rachel was at Lisa’s house.

  “Do you want some more wine?” Lisa spilled some on the kitchen counter as she refilled her glass.

  “Yes,” Rachel said from the sofa. “Fill it all the way up.”

  When Lisa handed Rachel her glass, Rachel said, “Did you take pictures?”

  “Yes, but I sure didn’t feel like it. They’re in my camera on the coffee table if you want to look.”

  “God, no, I don’t want to look. I don’t want to see another boy with Fred.”

  “It was supposed to be Jamie.” Lisa started crying again. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “I don’t know, Lisa, I just don’t know. He’s been really moody and secretive lately. He won’t hardly talk to us and spends most of his time in his room. All his friends are at the prom, and he’s in his room, sitting on the bed, bouncing a rubber ball off the wall. I don’t know what the problem is.”

  Lisa stared at the floor for a moment, then said quietly, “They were supposed to be together.”

  “Since before they were born.”

  Lisa drained her glass. “I need more wine.”

  * * *

  Renn stepped through the doorway onto the asphalt and raised both arms in triumph. This is it! he thought. Finally. He’s here, I know it.

  But his celebration was cut short when he was nearly flattened by a passing truck.

  He stared after it in open-mouthed wonder.

  Chapter 47

  Track, as a sport, is crazy. Running around a big circle as hard as you can until you’re ready to heave is nuts. But track was keeping Jamie sane.

  Distancing himself from his friends was taking its toll on his psyche, but Manny had taken him under his wing, and Jamie put everything he had into his workouts, leaving no time to wallow in self-pity. Manny ran him so hard that he could only focus on one thing: keeping up. Jamie chased Manny day after day, one exhausting workout after another, and it was paying off. Jamie was getting faster.

  Standing at the line for the start of the 1500 meter run, Jamie went over tactics in his head as the dozen boys looked at the starter. It was the regional meet, and the top two finishers went to the state championship. Manny was a shoe-in for first place, and second would probably be Eddie Schulman, another senior from their team. Third place was up for grabs, and Jamie wanted it, but he had to watch out for a kid from West Henderson High that everybody called The Rat, probably because he had a rodent-shaped face and he ran dirty.

  “When you’re in a pack with him, watch out,” Manny said. “He’ll trip you. And if you’re on a turn, he’ll throw an elbow to push you outside.”

  The gun fired and the boys took off, jostling for position, Manny already out front, sprinting, Jamie back with the others. By the end of the first lap, Manny was twenty yards ahead of everyone else, Eddie was in second place, and the rest of the runners were in a pack, constantly shifting and vying for position. Nobody wanted to be on the outside, because you ended up having to run farther.

  By the end of the second lap, the runners had started to string out, the slower boys falling behind, Jamie still solidly in the middle, while Manny and Eddie led the field.

  Jamie didn’t have Manny’s natural sprint for a start or his unbelievable kick at the end, but Jamie could match Manny’s cruising pace when he was focused, and Jamie was focused like a laser on Manny’s number 77, imagining that there was a rope tied between him and Manny, and that Manny was pulling him along. Jamie couldn’t fall any farther back than the length of that rope. It was paying off, because by the end of the third lap, Jamie was in fourth place, with only The Rat between him and Eddie, who still held second place.

  Jamie rounded the turn and hit the back straightaway. He decided to make his move. He stepped up the pace, starting his kick early, because if he was going to pass The Rat, he needed to do it before the last turn. If he didn’t, the Rat would be able to pu
sh Jamie to the outside and force him to expend too much energy.

  Jamie made up the three stride difference and caught up with The Rat halfway down the back stretch, careful to keep out of elbow’s reach. Maintaining his kick, he passed the Rat before the turn and moved to the inside. But just two steps into the turn, something caught his heel and made him stumble.

  He tripped me, Jamie thought angrily, but caught his balance in four strides and was back in form before The Rat could pass him on the outside. Jamie dug down deep for a little extra push, and managed to keep the Rat on his shoulder, forcing him outside. Jamie heard him gasping, and by the end of the turn, The Rat had nothing left, and started to fade. Jamie had third place to himself.

  He looked up to see Eddie less than eight yards ahead, and dug even deeper for any reserves he had left.

  I will, he thought. I will.

  With fifty yards to go, Jamie was only five yards behind.

  Keep your form no matter what, he heard Manny’s voice in his head. Focus on your form, ignore the burn.

  He was feeling the burn now, but he was only three yards behind Eddie with about twenty yards to go. Eddie glanced over his shoulder, and looked panicked to see Jamie so close. Eddie seemed to dig for everything he had, too, and Jamie was two yards behind. Ten yards to go, and Jamie could almost touch him. God, it hurts. His body was on fire. Five yards to go, only half a stride.

  They crossed the finish line, and Eddie managed to lean and beat Jamie by a nose. They both staggered to a stop, and Eddie leaned over and put his hands on his knees. Jamie felt his stomach lurch and staggered down the track toward the gate, hoping to make it under the stands before his breakfast came up.

  Please, not yet. When he made it to the end of the stands, he looked up to see Fred, standing next to Kyle, clapping and yelling. He could read her lips, Jamie, she said, but couldn’t hear her. All he could hear was his stomach.

  He made it about five steps under the stands before he retched, hands on his knees, gasping and miserable.

  “Are you okay?” he heard his father behind him.

  Jamie could only nod.

  “Does this happen often?”

  “Sometimes,” Jamie gasped. After about a minute, he straightened and turned to face his father.

  “Great race, son. You showed a lot of guts. I never could have done that.” And then his father said something Jamie had wanted to hear all his life. “I’m really proud of you.”

  His father had praised him before for making good grades and other things, but Jamie always felt that he was a disappointment to him because he wasn’t good at sports. Not baseball, not soccer, not basketball, not football. An uncoordinated failure.

  But not today.

  His father put his arm around Jamie’s shoulders. “You really showed me something. You showed everybody.”

  They walked out from under the stands and Manny was waiting. He handed Jamie a water bottle. “Great race, Magic Man, great race. I asked my mother to save a little something for you.”

  “Thanks,” Jamie said weakly.

  Manny walked away. His father asked, “What was that all about?”

  “Strength from heaven, Dad. It’s his secret weapon.”

  Chapter 48

  Jamie was having the worst summer ever. It seemed like all he did was work, run, and sit in his room alone. Rollie was dating Tanisha, so he was never around, and Fred was dating Kyle — it bothered him deeply to think about that — so she wasn’t around either. But that was the way it had to be, for their own safety. He celebrated his birthday without them for the first time since before they moved to the neighborhood.

  Sometimes, when he was really feeling down, he went to visit his grandmother. She would fix dinner for just the two of them, or they’d watch TV and talk, and somehow, that always made him feel better.

  Gramma’s brownies were a balm for the soul.

  He made it a point to make time for magic. Whenever he was home alone, he practiced, trying to find the advantage he needed to beat the psychotic sorcerer. It was there, buried in the old man’s memories: find an advantage. It was important to the old man. But what kind of advantage?

  One new trick Jamie worked on was his shield. After learning about plasma in physics class, Jamie found that he could generate a plasma field by ionizing air molecules, and when he layered that with his regular shield, it made an impressive, impenetrable, orange shimmer. It was hot, though, hot enough to singe the hair off his arms the first time he tried it. When he sandwiched the plasma between two magic shields, it was fine. Perfect.

  I’d like to see Renn try to get a spell through that. Jamie felt that enveloped in that shield, he could safely walk on the sun.

  * * *

  A few days later, Jamie stood at his bedroom window and watched his mother drive away. Finally. Thought she’d never leave. He quickly drew the outline of a doorway and opened it, revealing the rocky landscape of the three moon world. He knelt beside his bed, grabbed the edges of a blanket underneath it, and pulled, grunting with the effort.

  A heavy steel plate, about two feet wide and three feet long, with remnants of yellow paint still clinging to its scratched surface, slid out. He’d scoured junkyards for days looking for something like it, and when he’d loaded it into the trunk of his car, the rear end sagged noticeably. He stood, gestured with his hand, and the plate floated waist-high. He gave it a gentle push, and it glided through the doorway to the world beyond, Jamie walking right behind.

  He was keen on testing his new blast, or shot, as he liked to think of it, coupling his new ability to generate plasma with his normal magic energy. This is gonna be awesome, he thought as he guided the heavy slab over the boulder-strewn ground. He walked it to a towering granite wall, dropped the rear of the slab to the ground, and lifted the front edge until it leaned upright against the rock. That should do.

  He stepped back fifty paces, stopped, and pulled a pair of his father’s safety goggles from his back pocket. He slipped them on, eyed the plate, then stepped another ten yards back. That should be good enough.

  He faced the wall and raised his arm, pointing his fingers at the plate. Here goes nothing. He held his breath, summoned his will, and fired.

  The explosion knocked him flat on his back.

  Wow. He shook his head, sat up and brushed off the bits of rubble. He looked across the way, and the plate was gone. So was most of the rock face. Double wow! He stood and walked over to inspect the damage, finding no trace of the metal slab. I vaporized it! Cool. Wait’ll I tell Rollie.

  As he stepped back into his room and the doorway vanished, he thought, That’s a heckuva shot. That’s a power shot. I’d like to see Renn try to block that.

  * * *

  “Use your magic, you old fool,” Renn said. Eddan seemed to be using his magic infrequently and only in short bursts, making it hard to track him down. Out of frustration, Renn finally decided to lower himself to talking to the locals. Surely someone would know of a wizard nearby.

  His initial efforts didn’t go well, though, because most people avoided him. They looked at him as if he were a freak, sometimes staring at him openly. When he stepped into a shop on the edge of town to inquire about the whereabouts of the old sorcerer, the lone shopkeeper had the nerve to laugh at him.

  He wasn’t laughing when Renn burned a hole through his skull.

  Chapter 49

  Bryce’s back-to-school party was to be the last one, because they were all going to be seniors. Jamie decided to go, even though he had no date, but it seemed like everyone else did.

  Jamie stepped through the gate to Bryce’s back yard and the first thing he saw was Fred, already dancing by the pool, but not with Kyle. He sat on a bench nearby and watched. Jamie quickly turned away and headed into the game room.

  Most of the kids inside seemed to be paired up, too, playing pool or foosball together, but Jamie saw the pinball machine was open, so he took advantage of it.

  I feel like such a loser, bu
t with his back to the room, he couldn’t see all of his friends as couples, he only heard them, and the noise from the pinball machine was a welcome distraction.

  A few minutes later, Bryce’s mother walked by with a tray full of drinks, and Jamie took a large lemonade when she offered him one. He drank it thirstily. It wasn’t long before his bladder was full, but the game room bathroom was occupied. “There’s one upstairs,” someone said, “near the front door.”

  Jamie found that bathroom and relieved himself, and when he opened the door, someone else was waiting to use it. A beautiful blonde.

  “Oh, hey Melanie,” Jamie said.

  “Hey, Jamie,” she said, smiling. “Are you here with Fred?”

  “No, she’s with Kyle.”

  “Oh. I knew that, it’s just that I always assume —”

  “We’re not together.” He tried to walk away. She touched his arm.

  “Did she ever tell you that I wanted to ask you to the Sadie Hawkins dance?”

  “She never mentioned it.”

  “I asked her about you, but I guess she beat me to the punch.”

  “Oh, sorry. Some other time, maybe.” He started to walk away again, but she grabbed his arm and stepped closer to him.

  This is awkward.

  “I’ve always been a little jealous of her, because she got to go with you.” She was almost brushing against him. “You know, I’ve never kissed anybody but Michael. I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to kiss you.”

  “Uh….” His heart raced and the room suddenly felt warm. He stepped back. “Maybe this Christmas we’ll get some mistletoe or something and you can see for yourself.” God, that’s lame.

  She stepped toward him. “That’s so far away. Can’t we pretend it’s Christmas?”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be with Michael right now?” Jamie looked around nervously.

  “He’s playing pool. He’s been ignoring me.” She held her hand up high. “We can pretend I’m holding mistletoe. It’s Christmas, remember?” She took another step closer and started humming “Jingle Bells”.