Magic Born

by Dyan Chick

  He nodded. "But I don't think they were after just anyone. Whoever did this did it to target you. They must have known you were a Dragon-Blood and wanted to test it."

  "You're saying someone killed Jimmy and released a dragon just to see if I could make fire without casting a spell?"

  "There's more to your heritage than we can get into right now." James turned and walked away.

  I chased after him deeper into the cement room. "Seriously? You're going to leave it at that?"

  He stopped walking and glanced over his shoulder. "Do you want to save your friend and clear your name or was that all talk?"

  My shoulders slumped. I knew whatever was going on with me wasn't as important as saving Alec. And to be honest, if I didn't clear my name, I wasn't going to have magic long enough to learn what the new revelations meant, anyway. "Do you have a plan or are we just going to hide in this creepy wannabe Bat Cave?"

  He chuckled. "Bat Cave, that's a good one. I wish it were that cool."

  James walked to the wall and flipped a switch, lights buzzed to life above me. The space we stood in was like a cement warehouse, but now that the lights were on, I could see a row of sports cars. "It's a garage?"

  "Yes, with a few secret entry points in case I need a quick escape." He walked over past a hummer and a Ferrari, pausing in front of a purple GTO. He patted the hood of the car. "This is my favorite."

  "Very nice," I said, trying not to sound unimpressed. Cars had never been my thing. I liked having a working car, but that was about as far as I cared.

  "Come on." James continued, then opened the passenger door to an Audi that looked far too futuristic to exist in real life.

  "Thanks," I said, closing the door behind me.

  James revved up the engine, and as we neared the back of the massive space, the wall lowered, turning into a platform. He drove over the platform, right onto a narrow street lined with factory buildings.

  As he gunned it down the road, I glanced behind me to see the door closing, covered in moss. It was a very well hidden garage. My skin prickled. The garage didn't exist to hide from hunters or vampires or any of the creatures you'd typically find in Realm's Gate. I had a feeling he could have taken on the hunters if he weren't worried about keeping me alive. Was this all a precaution against the Dragon-Bloods? Or other elite dragons? How bad were they? "Do you have to run from people often?"

  "No."

  His tone let me know he wasn't going to elaborate. I leaned back against the seat and clicked my seat belt in place. "Where are we going? Back to Realm's Gate?"

  "Yes, but first, we'll go see the Oracle."

  16

  Despite the number of buildings we passed, there were no signs of life. Middle of the day, somewhere outside of San Francisco, no people. It was eerie. Before I could ask about the landscape, James turned the car onto a main road, and we were stuck right in the middle of traffic. Wonderful.

  Even James's fancy car couldn't get around the gridlock. We were stuck. Which meant, he'd have to talk. "So, since we're not going anywhere quickly, maybe you can explain some things to me?"

  He glanced at me. "You're relentless, aren't you?"

  "Hey, wouldn't you be curious if you just found out something like this about yourself?" I asked.

  "Of course, but I'd like to think I'd worry about things that aren't directly related to the problem at hand," he said.

  I crossed my arms over my chest. "Maybe I don't want to think about certain things until I can actually do something? Have you thought about that? You're the one taking us on a detour to see an Oracle instead of going right back to Realm's Gate."

  "Do you know where they are keeping your friend? Or how to get him out? Or who is trying to frame you and why?" he asked.

  "No," I said quietly.

  "You want to jump right in, blindly. How well do you think that's going to work?" James asked.

  I was getting tired of him being right. "Fine, what do you want to talk about?"

  "Do you know any teleportation spells?"

  Turning sideways in the seat, I narrowed my eyes at him. "Where are you going with this?"

  "I hate traffic."

  "Right, everyone does, but you do know how dangerous teleportation is?" Very few mages attempted teleportation. Even the best mages occasionally had accidents. A family friend had teleported inside of the wall of a building when I was a child, which of course, would kill anyone. It wasn't worth the risk to save a few hours time.

  "You've learned the theory behind it, right? I mean, all those years training taught you some serious magic."

  I glared at him. We'd never talked about my past, but the fact that he went digging around in my head meant he know a whole lot more about me than I shared with anyone. Scooting back against the door, I realized how little I know about him. How did I know he was even really going to help me? "Why did Jimmy tell me to come to you?"

  James stared straight ahead at the road for a moment, then let out a sigh. "He worried that one day, your dragon power would manifest and thought you could use some guidance."

  "Jimmy knew?" My shoulders dropped as I considered what that meant. Was that why he kept me around? "Why didn't he tell me?"

  "The only way it would have been an issue was if you were around a dragon. Otherwise, you'd have lived your whole life without knowing," James said.

  "Does that mean you were on standby? Just in case a random dragon appeared one day?" Eyebrow raised, I looked at him with skepticism. There was nothing nurturing about James, and he didn't strike me as the mentor type. Jimmy, on the other hand, had taken me in, shown me the ropes, and helped me start my own semi-successful business. It wasn't glamorous, but it was all mine.

  "Something like that. I wasn't his first choice, but as you said, I owed him a favor."

  "Should I be worried about the others you keep referencing?" Though he'd made mention of the Dragon-Bloods and other elites, I still had no idea where they were or if there were a regular threat. It was hard to tell how much of James's precautions were paranoia.

  "We're getting off topic," James said. "Now, do you know the theory of teleportation or not?"

  "Of course, I do. You probably already knew that, though," I said.

  "You cast, I'll support, and we can hit our mark."

  "You're talking duel casting? By a dragon and a mage? Is that even possible?" Then, I recalled joining magic with Alec to get the door open to James's house. "Never mind. You sure this is necessary?"

  "Only if you want to get your friend out before whoever is framing you has him killed, too."

  My heart raced. I didn't want anything to happen to Alec, but I was terrified of trying teleportation. As James mentioned, the only thing I knew was the theory. But what was the alternative? Getting there too late to save Alec? Feeling guilty for the rest of my life? Shit. "Where do you want me to take us?"

  "You focus on the spell. I'll add the location," James said.

  "Will that work?" I asked.

  "If you cast your part right," James said. "Keep in mind, I'm trusting you here."

  That was true. A flutter of something, pride, maybe, rose in the pit of my stomach but was quickly masked by knots of anticipation and fear. If I failed at this, it wasn't just me would suffer, it was Alec, and James, too. "Guess I better not fuck it up, then."

  The sound of a blinker clicking was the only noise inside the car as I mentally prepared to cast the most dangerous spell of my life.

  Safely pulled over on the side of the road, I closed my eyes, trying to recall the lessons from school and the reading I'd done over the years. I thought about the closed door in my apartment and wished I had kept up with my studies even a little bit since leaving home. There was nothing I could do to change the past. Right now, I had to get us to the Oracle, wherever that was.

  I whispered the words a few times until they felt more natural coming from my tongue. It was a spell that most mage children memorized, a bit of rebellion, saying that one day, you'
d go for it. As a teenager, life seems eternal and flirting with death isn't uncommon. I'd known two kids growing up who had successfully teleported, just to say they did, but neither of them repeated the process.

  There was no point in putting this off. It was now or never. I looked at James. "You ready?"

  He nodded.

  "I need you to be totally clear on the location, okay? No half-assing this. I don't want to end up split in half somewhere."

  "I'll do my part," he said.

  I took a deep breath in through my nose and closed my eyes. Then, before I could talk myself out of it, I concentrated on the spell, igniting the magic that resided inside me. So many pieces had to come into play for a spell to work. Saying the words wasn't enough. Wanting it to work wasn't enough. All pieces had to work together. Something hummed inside me, and I knew I'd tapped into the core of my magic, deep within. It was a place I didn't have to reach for basic spells. Those could be done at surface level. For this, I'd have to use everything I had.

  Concentrating on the energy, I said the words for the incantation, slowly at first, then picking up speed as my confidence grew. I could feel it snap into place, and as I said the last word, I let out a breath of relief. Then, a rush of cold flooded over me, and I gasped as if being thrown into ice water.

  My body was thrown back against the seat of the car, and my chest and arms were heavy with pressure. Just as I was losing the ability to keep myself calm, the pressure eased, then the air returned to normal. I took a deep breath and looked around. James was sitting next to me, and we were still in the car.

  When I looked out the window, my spirits dropped. "You have got to be kidding me."

  I was staring out at a gas station. The same gas station I had stopped at on my way to James's house. "What are we doing here? Did you get it wrong?"

  James unclicked his seat belt. "Nope, this is the place. Chester says the mundane tasks of working a gas station keep him from getting too overwhelmed."

  "Chester?" I removed my seat belt and followed James out of the car.

  "The Oracle. Only one I know of who lives anywhere near the west coast. He's also the only one I know who is older than me."

  Maybe that explained the moody teenager with the tarot cards. Had he found Chester's deck? Or maybe the Oracle had a sense of humor and hired people who thought they were magical.

  The bell chimed as we stepped into the shop. My shoulders sunk. The teenager with the dyed-black spiky hair and too much eyeliner was standing behind the counter again. James's friend must be off today.

  "Hey, Chester," James said.

  I froze. "No way that's Chester."

  The angsty-looking teen behind the counter smiled at me. His long, black bangs covered one eye, and he wore the same choker and pentagram necklaces he'd had on the other day. "The little mage is back, and I see she's exchanged her company. That's quite an upgrade from the blood-bag you were in here with the other day."

  "You've met?" James asked.

  "He read a card for me," I said. "Badly."

  17

  "Sorry, love, sometimes I can't help myself. I see magical folk so rarely." Chester walked around the counter. He stretched out his hand to James and the two men high fived.

  "Ha-ha, very funny," I said. "What on earth are you doing here if you're an Oracle? Why aren't you in Realm's Gate or holed up in some super secret bunker of a house like this dude?" I pointed at James.

  Chester lifted an eyebrow. "She's been to your house? Wow, I didn't know it was that serious yet. I mean, I saw you two getting together, but I thought it wasn't going to happen for a while."

  Startled, I stared at Chester in shock for a moment, before regaining my composure. Sure, James was hot, but he was also full of himself, and a million years older than me. It was never going to happen. "Me and him? You are a terrible Oracle."

  James glared at me. "He's very talented, but even the most practiced Oracles can make mistakes on occasion."

  I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest. It didn't matter how attractive James was. The two of us as a couple was a terrible idea, but I couldn't help but feel a little hurt at how quickly he dismissed it. My cheeks flamed as I realized I'd done it first. But we weren't here for predictions on romance or fake tarot card readings. "Look, can you help us or not?"

  Chester turned around and shouted, "Karla, I need you up front."

  A second later, an older gray-haired woman with a hump shuffled in. She smiled, revealing a toothless grin.

  Trying to hide my surprise, I smiled back.

  "Nice to see you, Karla," James said.

  Karla nodded and shuffled to the register, plopping down on a stool behind the counter.

  "She'll take over from here," Chester said. "Thanks, Karla."

  The old woman nodded again, then from nowhere pulled out a pair of knitting needles and a skein of yarn. The needles clicked together as she worked.

  I reached out with my magic, trying to detect what Karla was. She didn't register as human, but like James, I couldn't tell what she was.

  Chester and James were standing in front of the door where Karla had entered the store. James whistled. "You coming? Or you want to stay and knit?"

  Offering a quick smile to the woman behind the counter, I dashed off to join the others. I passed through a doorway, into what looked like a storage space. One corner had a foul-smelling sink with a mop and bucket next to it. I wrinkled my nose and looked ahead of me where a beaded curtain led to another room.

  Pushing through the curtain, I emerged into what appeared to be a mix between a clean room and an upscale living room. Everything in this room was white. White carpet, white textured wallpaper, white ceilings with crown molding. Even the artfully arranged couches and tables that were white. How did he keep this clean?

  That's when I noticed that James's jeans and black shirt were gone. Instead, he wore a white jumpsuit. I looked over at Chester to see that he was in the same jumpsuit. Already knowing what I’d see, I risked a glance at my clothes and gasped. I was in a white jumpsuit, too. What the hell? "What is this place?"

  "Welcome to my secret sanctum," Chester said.

  I lifted an eyebrow. "Like Superman?"

  He smiled. "I think I like you."

  "Yeah, well, what's not to like? Right? It can't be every day you get to mess with a mage when they stop to get gas."

  "It was just a little joke," James said, stretching out on the white couch.

  I walked over to the too-clean furniture and decided on a chair. My body remained tense and on guard and I perched on the edge of the chair. I wasn't ready to relax the way James had. I wondered how Chester was going to help us with our mission and why the hell I was in a white jumpsuit.

  Instead of wasting time, asking, I just hoped that my old clothes would return when I left. Magic was a weird thing. Every creature wielded it differently. Apparently, Chester the Oracle liked to put his guests in a clean room.

  Chester sat down near James, leaving a gap between the two of them. "So, what brings you for a visit? I mean, I enjoy your company, but I have a feeling this isn't a social call."

  "A feeling?" I couldn't help myself. The whole situation was uncomfortable. "Aren't you an Oracle?"

  "Yes," Chester said. "But not a mind reader, well, not always. Really, for a mage with Dragon Blood, you seem to be very uneducated in the ways of our world."

  "What world are you talking about? Because in the one I grew up in, Dragon-Bloods were a myth, Oracles were extinct, and people didn't disguise themselves as me, and kill people I loved."

  The room grew silent and I looked down at my hands. Since Jimmy's death, I'd tried not to think about the emotional impact of what had happened. Jimmy had helped me when I had nobody. He was more of a father to me than my own father had been. And now he was gone. That should never have happened. He was a vampire. He was supposed to cry at my funeral and go on to live another thousand years. Honestly, his immortality was part of what allowed me to open
up to him. I didn't have to worry about him leaving me like my parents had. He wasn't supposed to die.

  I wiped a tear off of my cheek and clenched my teeth. There wasn't time to stop and be sad right now. I needed to clear my name and get that dragon out of Realm's Gate. Anger flashed inside me, and for the first time, I realized that wasn't all I wanted. I wanted revenge. I wanted to find the killer and watch him torn to shreds by something with very sharp teeth.

  "Interesting," Chester said.

  "What?" I asked, looking up at him.

  "You buried an awful lot, Morgan."

  I stood, furious as the realization of his words sunk in. Whatever this room was, it amplified my feelings. And somehow, Chester seemed to be able to read them. I didn't know if he got all of it or just the emotions, but either way, I was done. "What is wrong with both of you? Neither of you has permission to be inside my head."

  "Wait, Morgan." James was behind me now, fingers around my upper arm. "Just give him a chance, okay?"

  "I don't know what game you're playing, but you of all people know how I feel about keeping my thoughts private."

  James nodded. "You're right. And I should have prepared you for this. But he's not able to get any information that doesn't relate to the question we have for him. Please, stay. We need his help."

  "That doesn't even make sense. We didn't ask a question," I said.

  "But didn't you?" Chester asked. "You want to know who killed your friend. You were practically screaming it the second we walked in here. There's a second question, but it's harder for me to read because your first question is so strong."

  I turned back to Chester. "No more in my head, okay?"

  Chester nodded. "I'm sorry, Morgan. Please forgive me."

  Fists clenched, body tense, I reluctantly nodded back. "I just want to find the killer and find a way to save my friend from the hunters. Can you help us?"

  "Yes, please sit," Chester said.

  James grabbed my hand and guided me to the chair. I sat down and waited, wishing I would have pushed harder to skip visiting this Oracle.