“I don’t think it was my fault, but I wasn’t expecting to be attacked like that. The old me would have snapped back and exacerbated the situation. I’m learning to control my impulses a little more.”
She shifted the car into reverse. “Well, I’m proud of you. It could have gotten pretty ugly in there.” She kissed him on the cheek and wiped away the dark lipstick stain with her thumb.
“It did get pretty ugly. I just didn’t make it worse.”
Emily shifted into drive and turned around in the packed parking lot, missing a parked car by inches. “Good job. So why don’t we go back to your house and get out of these fancy clothes.” Emily winked at him as she ran a red light.
“You bring a change of clothes with you?” Mike asked, pressing down on the imaginary brake pedal.
“Nope.” She peeked over and smiled, although Mike wished she would keep her focus on the road.
She’d almost made him forget how filthy his house was. He couldn’t fathom why Emily would want to go to his tiny apartment. “Why don’t we go to your place?”
“I guess we can. It’s a little messy, though.”
“I’m pretty sure I can handle it.”
They pulled onto Emily’s street as a dented conversion van sped away in the opposite direction.
“It’s that weirdo again. That’s the tarot card reader guy.” Emily stretched her neck to see and ran up into the neighbor’s yard. “Oh, shit.” She straightened out the wheel and got back on the road.
“Want me to kick his ass?”
“Not yet. But maybe.” Emily pulled into her driveway.
An hour later, Mike picked his clothes up off Emily’s floor. He had left his boxers inside the dress pants so Emily wouldn’t notice he had been wearing the same underwear for several days. When he picked up his phone, he noticed a missed call.
He checked the number and smiled.
Emily asked. “What are you smiling about? That’s not another girl calling you, is it?”
“No. Well, yeah. But you don’t have to worry. It’s just my aunt asking about the funeral. I won’t even tell her that it was just a viewing.” Mike hoped that adding a little detail to his lie would throw Emily off the trail.
He hadn’t seen her jealous side yet. He also didn’t think she would believe that a faerie named Alayna was texting him for his next lesson to be a wizard.
It sounded ridiculous in his head, and he had seen it with his own two eyes. However, he did want to brag and tell Emily about his new clever self but was convinced she wouldn’t believe him.
Emily took Mike home.
Alayna was waiting outside his house.
He said goodbye to Emily, opened the car door, and before his foot hit the ground, Alayna said, “Let’s go. Tired of waiting for you. Time for another lesson.”
Chapter 18
ALAYNA LED HIM BACK to the underworld. Mike marveled at the brilliance of the colors again as they stepped out of the dark tunnel.
They walked through a small patch of woods and into an open area of rolling, grassy hills with white castles and stone houses. Mike recognized the garden sitting on a plateau to his left.
A group of men danced around the crops and chanted in a language (Latin) Mike didn’t understand. The women he had seen last time were standing in a circle, swinging smoking incense burners that dangled from golden linked chains.
The women hummed softly and provided a pleasing backing track to offset the low vocal range of the men.
Alayna whispered, “They are reciting some englynion and burning some carefully crafted herbal mixtures to encourage a healthy growing season.”
Mike had only seen short people here so he wondered how they had erected the multi-story castles with round towers almost reaching the flashing web of tree roots.
He turned to Alayna. “How did your people build those castles and houses? Did you guys have help from aliens or something?”
Alayna’s smiling face shifted to a look of anger. “What are you trying to say? You think we need help from giants or something because we are small? Let me guess, we can’t do anything ourselves. Frail little creatures, right?”
Mike stuttered. “No. Not at all. That’s...that’s...not what I...uh...uh...meant to say.”
Alayna tried to keep a straight face but eventually let out a cackling laugh. “Just busting your chops, buddy. Uh? Uh? Oh, honey, you should see your face right now.”
Mike shook his head, eyes glaring at his mentor. “You think you’re funny, huh?”
“Hilarious, actually. The answer is magic. The answer will always be magic. Now it’s time to get serious. We need to teach you a bit about that magic. You are going to first learn about the fundamental background of magic.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Alayna led Mike up over a grassy mound, and a small man in corduroy overalls, with a sparkling pipe in his mouth, skipped over to them. The old man had wild white sideburns and a shiny bald head. He came to a halt in front of Alayna, nodded to Mike, and took the pipe out of his mouth.
He held a dirty open palm out to Mike, who leaned down and shook his hand. The man spoke in a Scottish accent, “Wallace Aughsberg. A pleasure it is.”
“Mike Merlino. Nice to meet you.”
The man held the golden pipe with silver sprinkles out to Mike. “Fear not, boy, for here there be knowledge.”
Mike grabbed the enchanting smoking device. “Do you have a lighter?”
Wallace shook his sweaty, shiny head. “Don’t need one. The fire of knowledge can never be extinguished.”
Mike didn’t really understand what Wallace meant but he sucked on the pipe, never the less. As soon as he did, he felt the smoke from the Plant of Knowledge dancing around his lungs. Exhaling, he produced a variegated cloud of smoke and coughed. He handed the pipe back to Wallace, who stuffed it into a big pocket on the belly of his overalls.
Wallace bowed and smiled at Alayna, exposing a mouthful of wooden teeth. “My lady, fine is the day we are having, no?”
“Indeed.” Alayna nodded and extended her left hand.
The man’s face lit up with excitement, and he took two steps closer to her. He pursed his lips and wiggled them as he took her hand into his, dropped to a knee and kissed her hand. There, Wallace paused for a few moments, and Mike thought the old man wasn’t going to be able to get back up again.
But he sprang back up, surprising Mike. He showed unexpected vitality for a man with that many wrinkles. A green and blue butterfly suddenly caught the man’s attention, and he chased after the creature.
Mike poked Alayna in the shoulder. “Who’s that? Your husband?”
“Sorry to let you down, but no. Why? You interested, too?”
Mike smiled. “No. Nothing like that. Are you married?”
“Oh, Mike, we will have plenty of time to talk about me in the future. We’ll concentrate on your lesson now. We just need to go over this little hill here.” She gestured to a grassy patch of land off to the right.
A flat stretch opened up, and an enormous stone structure that rivaled Stonehenge sat in front of them. A jungle of uneven, rectangular stones had been arranged in a beautiful oval pattern. Mike marveled at the dense structure of standing black stones and white stones set perpendicularly on top.
Alayna led him to the middle of the maze and sat down. A shaft of golden sunlight aligned perfectly with a small opening between long stones. Awestruck, Mike forgot to ask what the structure was used for. Alayna patted a flat, white stone for Mike to sit down, and he plopped down next to her.
“Alright. Your first few lessons will be overviews of the different types of magic and the power they can possess. To start with, you need to think of magic as a growing, living organism or a better reference would be a body of water. Magic is taking knowledge from ancient times, the beginning of humankind. Think about how much magic has been learned in the past few years.
“Thinks about hundreds of years of magic. Now imagine thousands of yea
rs. New ideas and techniques falling like raindrops and collecting in a communal vessel. Think of that accumulation as an ever-flowing body of water. Let it flow through your body and your soul. Let thousands of years of magic flow through you. Free your soul to travel to other worlds, gaining secret knowledge. Magic now is the sum of everything that has come before you. Imagine a thousand-year poker game where nobody wins. The pot just keeps growing. Lucky you. But how do you dip into it?”
Mike shrugged his shoulders.
“As I said, magic is a constantly moving body of water. If you jump right in, it can wash you away like that undercurrent in the river. Don’t mess with its power. Magic can be a lot like the Jet Stream in that before people understood the effects, they probably thought it was magic. Magic is about connecting with nature and learning its secrets. Learn about the Jet Stream and you can fly faster than everyone else. The magic body of water is enormous, but you need to know the proper way to draw from it.”
Mike hung on her every word. “How do I do that?”
Alayna smiled and swung a couple of long braids out of her face. “As far as drawing from the flowing undercurrent of magic is concerned, there are several ways to do it. You have incantation, conjuration, wands, amulets, cauldrons, casting spells, englynion.”
“What was that last thing?” Mike asked.
“It is the plural form of englyn, which is a spell song. They rhyme and have a little more flair. I like flair. Anyway, where was I?”
Mike scratched the blond peach fuzz covering his chin. “Oh. You were talking about different ways to draw magic. Should I go out and buy a magic wand now?”
Alayna shook her head. “You never want to do that. Anything you use in magic needs to be special to you. You need to make it or have it handed down to you from someone in your bloodline. Or if you went on a long soul-searching hike in the wilderness and found one, that would work. Magic is all about being in tune with your own body. I’ve seen too many people who don’t understand their own body, yet they want to shapeshift and tap into the ancient spirit of an animal they don’t know anything about.”
Those words worried Mike. He didn’t understand himself. He wanted to be a better person, he just needed a little direction on how to do it.
Alayna continued, “Even when using ancient spells, they need to mean something to you to have any effect at all. Another important factor, actually the number one rule of magic, is that you can’t use magic for any dark motives. It can only be used for benevolent causes, most prevalently the fight against black magic and dark spirits. I’m going to give you some books of spells and englynion to look at along with a few other books of background information that might be useful now that you thirst for knowledge.” She winked, not in a sleazy way, but to reinforce her point.
Mike smirked. “I’m actually pretty thirsty right now. That knowledge plant gives me cotton mouth every time.”
Alayna held her finger up, seemingly asking for one more minute. “We’re almost finished here for today. We need to start you out slowly. You can handle all sorts of magic with your bloodline. Your reservoir is bottomless. The more you learn, the more you can call on in times of need. Fill that reservoir with an expanse of knowledge and everything becomes easier as you move forward. Instead of having to recite full englynion, you will only need to think about that power, and it shall come to your fingertips.”
“That’s pretty awesome.”
“Indeed. Although it will take some work and dedication on your part.” Alayna stood up and brushed off her backside.
Mike got up and followed her out of the structure of stones.
Alayna said, “On your next visit we will go over plant, tree and animal magic. We’ll also go over how to draw directly from the elements and harness that wisdom and power. After that, we will go over internal and mind magic. Those are the most difficult forms for most of my pupils.”
They traveled and across the steady plain toward the entrance point.
“What you have to do now is open your mind, open your soul. Let the wave of magic flow through you. Absorb everything you can and hold it dear. You never know when you are going to need it. More weapons are obviously more power.”
They traveled back home through the magic elevator and came out in the dark tunnel. The pair emerged out of the secret door and into Prince’s Mountain, then headed for Mike’s house.
As they trampled through the fallen leaves and twigs, Alayna said, “You can walk away from this stupid way to make quick cash, Micheal.”
“What?”
“You know. Your deal to make the six thousand dollars.”
“Stay out of my business. I told you about that.”
“You told me to stay away from you several times. I must be stubborn. Look, we can take care of you financially and medically. You don’t need to do this foolish quest to impress someone. Your girl is starting to use mind magic on you. She doesn’t even know it, and neither do you.”
“So you think she knows magic, too?”
“No. Someone has captured her mind, and that person is using her to get to you. Magic is strong with this one. You have an obligation to defeat George, but you shouldn’t anger him by stealing the amulet. You haven’t seen his true power yet.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Plus, I’m not even sure if this isn’t a dream or a hallucination. I think it might be death creeping in on account of the cancer. No one else can see you except me. How believable is that?”
“Was it believable when I punched you and knocked you on your ass?”
“Hey, broken record, is that all you can keep saying? Every time it’s the same thing.” He shook his head in disgust.
“I know that you believe in me. This must be something else.”
Mike took a deep breath. After several moments of thought, he said, “You want to know the real reason I don’t trust you. People have been abandoning me my entire life since my mom died. Now you want me to get all excited about something, and I’m not supposed to believe that you aren’t going to ditch me. Now that I have some intelligence, I’d be a fool not to have learned from my own past.”
“I’m sorry that some people wronged you—”
Mike cut her off, “No. Not some people. Every—body. Every single motherfucker turned their backs on me at some point. Not one person who could help me stuck by my side when I needed them most. If I get my hopes up about this and it blows up in my face, it might be time to just kill myself. I’ll save cancer the time.”
“Don’t you dare say that. You are destined for greatness. Lots of heroes have survived terrible upbringings. And the only way they did it was by trusting new people. Forging new relationships.”
Mike shook his head. “You’re going to learn that nothing ever works out for me. Nothing. Maybe if you keep showing up, I might see it differently, but for now, I can’t trust anyone not to abandon me.”
Mike’s phone rang.
Alayna said, “That’s her, isn’t it? Do you trust her not to abandon you?”
Mike checked. Emily’s name showed up on the screen. “Nope. You’re wrong. It’s not her.”
Alayna laughed. “Wow. You are one terrible liar. Now that you’ve gained some intelligence, you realize that, right?”
Mike answered the phone. “Hello.”
“Hey, Mike, are you ready for tonight?”
“Ready or not, here we come.” He let out a halfhearted laugh.
Emily chuckled. “Damn right. And we are going to make a boatload of cash, too. I say we take a vacation as soon as we get paid.”
Mike stared at Alayna. “I say we use the money to get out of this forsaken place. First thing.”
“That’s not a bad idea. The family business is so messed up right now, that might be the best thing for me to do.”
“I’m kind of in the middle of something right now, I’ll talk to you in a little while.”
“Sounds good.”
When they arrived at Mike’s ho
use, he squeezed inside the door and slammed it shut on Alayna.
Her voice carried through the closed door. “Well, that was quite rude.”
Mike didn’t want a motherly lecture after talking to Emily and he lay down for a while. Dusk crept in and his room got darker. His nerves vibrated like they were being plucked by a terrible banjo player.
What are we going to do if George catches up to us this time? He freaking ripped Kyle to shreds. We’d better not run into him again or it’s curtains.
He got up and paced around the small apartment, periodically checking his phone to see if Emily had called. For some reason, he mistrusted the audible alert. He contemplated smoking some marijuana to calm his nerves, but he quickly lost the thought as someone pounded on the door.
“Open up. Police,” shouted a muffled voice.
What the...? What do they want to know? No. They don’t think I killed Kyle and Gary, do they? We’re going to have to face them sometime.
Mike failed to calm his breathing as he stood with his hand on the door knob. He couldn’t wait any longer, so he turned the scratched golden handle and pulled. No one there. He opened the door wider and looked down.
Mike made a fist and stepped outside as Alayna quickly backed away from him. “Mike. This is part of your training for mental tolerance. You’re failing.”
Mike stopped. “That shit’s not funny after today. I got blamed for the death of my best friend. Now I thought the cops were coming after me. Not cool.”
Mike’s neighbor, Bob, emerged from behind his van. “Who y’all talkin’ to, Mike?”
“Nobody. Heat’s getting to me. I’m just going to go inside now.”
“Yeah, you soundin’ like a chap, too, all proper. Maybe drink some water. You take ‘er easy.” Bob waved with a black handkerchief in his hand and disappeared behind his beat up mini-van, where he noisily blew his nose like an out-of-tune horned instrument.
Alayna followed Mike into his house. He asked, “Now, what were we talking about again?”
“You were telling me that it wasn’t cool to knock on the door like the cops.”
“Exactly. Not cool at all.”
Bloodline Awakened Supernatural Thriller Series: Books 1-3 Page 51
