“I agree.”
“We still don’t write everything down for fear that it possibly falling into the wrong hands. Now they record lessons, like you would see in a podcast or a video on YouTube and store them on a mobile device like an iPad or tablet. The tablets are programmed so that if they leave this world, they explode. We don’t want any of our secrets leaving here and ending up in the wrong hands.”
“How do they obtain all this knowledge in the first place?”
She pointed up. “You see that flashing series of interconnected tree roots above us?”
“Yeah.”
“That is the world’s first internet. If the trees can see it, we can see it. They keep sending us new information that will come in handy when we need to heal you.”
“This place is pretty crazy.”
She chuckled. “We’ve only started to scratch the surface. Prepare to have your mind blown in the next couple of years. I’ll give you a quick overview of a few different kinds of magic. You will start by learning some more background knowledge, and then we must make sure that you have the ability to harness magic. Then we will move on to elemental and animal magic, which ties in with shapeshifting. The final and most difficult is internal magic and mind control, which subsequently results in body control of other people. And one of the most underestimated techniques is detecting the magic of others. Especially mind magic.”
“Sounds pretty intense. Shapeshifting. That’d be cool.”
“It is. Don’t get overwhelmed but there is a lot for you to learn. Shifting won’t occur for a few years. It’s rather intricate. I am rather confident you will be fine and dandy. You strike me as a mythic druid.” She chuckled.
Mike didn’t know if she had complimented him or insulted him. He tried to apply the new lesson and not let it bother him.
The pair traveled back to the small patch of woods that they had arrived at. Alayna explained that since they had fallen a great distance to get here, they would need the services of an elevator to get back to the earth’s surface. They went into a dark elevator and it took them to the dark tunnel. Mike navigated the pitch-black area by memory and eventually reached the secret door to get back to Prince’s Mountain.
Only half of the sun remained above the horizon when they entered the darkening woods. They walked back to Mike’s house and went inside.
Mike rhetorically asked, “What am I going to do tonight?”
“I can give you the best advice. Stay home for once and get some sleep. With your condition, you need to conserve energy for when it is necessary. Don’t forget you have a terminal disease,” she reminded him.
“That’s why I’m going out. I could die at any moment. How the hell did I end up with lung cancer anyway?” Mike asked in disgust.
“From your job. You were sucking in asbestos and other cancerous materials. They told you to wear that mask for a reason. You shouldn’t have taken it off all those times.”
Mike had never thought that the dust from the walls he had destroyed could have caused cancer.
Alayna said, “I’ve got to provide some help to another young wizard on the opposite side of the globe. Get some sleep, young man.”
“You have fun. And thanks for the advice.”
Mike decided he was going to take a short nap before going out. He lay on his back and thought about Kyle’s viewing tomorrow. It wouldn’t be much of a viewing with a closed casket. The past few days had been such a whirlwind that Mike hadn’t fully processed the death of his best friend yet. Everything still seemed like a surreal dream he would wake up from at any moment.
Mike thought about his plan with Emily to go back into Houlihan’s Circle tomorrow night. He was hoping she would call it off.
His eyelids quickly became heavy and he fell into a deep sleep. The next morning, Mike’s obnoxious ringtone caused him to slowly rise out of bed and grab his phone off the small dresser.
He pressed the answer button. “Hello.”
Chapter 17
EMILY’S VOICE CAUSED him to sit up in bed. “You sound sleepy. You’d better be ready like we talked about. I’ll be by in about a half hour.”
Mike shook his head rapidly, trying to wake up. “I’ll be ready. Don’t worry. See ya soon.”
“I’ll be there soon. Be ready.”
Mike hung up and scrambled to find a respectable outfit for the viewing. He opened the musty closet and unleashed a concentrated mothball stench. Choking on the harsh odor, Mike grabbed a long sleeved gray button-down shirt and a pair of black dress pants. He plucked the mothball out of the shirt pocket and wondered why both articles were wrinkled to high hell.
A brainwave had him spraying Febreze on the clothes to counteract the mothball aroma but the overall effect created competing waves of both smells. He didn’t change the boxers he had been wearing for three straight days, and just slid the pants on one leg at a time. He put his arms in the shirt and immediately noticed he had either gotten bigger or the shirt had shrunk.
Apparently, his newfound knowledge didn’t translate to proper hygiene.
The sleeves barely came to his wrists, and he had to leave three buttons at the top of the shirt undone, golden chest hair poking out. He hoped the stretching might take away some of the wrinkles. Peeking in the mirror, he was wrong.
A honking sounded from outside, and Mike grabbed his phone and wallet and looked in the mirror.
On his way out the door, he popped into the bathroom, grabbed the old tube of Crest toothpaste and squeezed some into his mouth. Mike slid his sockless feet into an old pair of shiny black dress shoes. They looked appropriate for the occasion until he crammed his feet into them and realized he should have checked his entire outfit earlier. They hurt like hell as he took the first few steps.
Mike hobbled outside and hopped into the passenger side of Emily’s Jeep.
“Hi,” he said, and put on his safety belt.
“How are you?” she asked.
“I’m alright. Not looking forward to this. But you look wonderful,” he said, staring at her short black dress creeping up her thigh.
She peeked over at him. “Wish I could say the same about you. Have you ever heard of an ironing board? You could have asked me to do it for you.”
Mike’s face became flush. He could almost hear Alayna chastising him with the same exact words. He wracked his brain for something to say as they cruised down the highway in an awkward silence. They arrived at the funeral home, and Mike’s chest tightened when he saw Kyle’s family.
Mike had lived with Kyle for about two years during high school. He didn’t know if he could look Kyle’s parents in the eye knowing he was partly responsible for his death.
He took a deep breath and walked inside with Emily by his side. They immediately ran into Kyle’s mom, who was greeting guests as they entered. She gave Mike a big hug, mashing her teary face into his shirt.
Mike uttered, “I’m sorry.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say.
She was crying hysterically. Eventually, she slowed down enough to speak. “Be a good boy now. Don’t do nothin’ like he did.”
They couldn’t find Kyle’s father as they waded further into the crowded funeral home. Mike and Emily gave their condolences to Kyle’s grandparents, and Emily’s red eyes started to spill tears. Mike tried to remain strong for the family, until he looked at the closed casket at the front of the room. Flowers of every color in matching and assorted bouquets surrounded the black casket.
Mike worked his way up to the casket as emotions raged inside him. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat responsible for the death of his best friend. He shuddered as he took a deep breath. Both Emily and Mike knelt on the cushioned bench in front of the remains of Kyle’s body.
Mike closed his eyes and folded his hands in prayer. However, he didn’t know any prayers, and Alayna’s knowledge lessons hadn’t covered Christianity yet. He focused on the good times he and Kyle had enjoyed over the years.
Images of Geo
rge tearing his best friend’s body apart kept flashing in, and Mike opened his eyes to dispel them.
He tapped Emily on the shoulder and stood up. She followed him to a corner of the room that wasn’t overcrowded. Mike wanted to leave but didn’t want to seem rude. He and Emily stood in an awkward silence, nodding at fellow sympathizers as they passed.
Peering around the room, Mike noticed Kyle’s girlfriend, Sarah, approaching, and he tried to produce a sympathetic but reassuring look for her sake. She walked up to Mike and stuck her pointer finger in his face. “You. This is all your fault. Murderer.”
Mike looked around, shaking his head and waving his arms to indicate he wasn’t to blame. “I don’t know what you are talking—”
She cut Mike off and talked even louder. “You are a murderer. That’s what I’m talking about. You, Kyle and Gary go into the woods, and Gary comes out dead. You go back into the woods with Kyle, and he comes out dead. I’m thinking that you are George. Murderer. Murderer.”
Sarah’s mother and father pulled her away and apologized to Mike for her behavior.
Mike turned to Emily. “Let’s get out of here before I get berated by somebody else.”
She nodded in silence. The couple slipped out a side door and walked around the building to the parking lot. That was not the experience Mike had hoped for. He hadn’t realized that people had been blaming him for the murders.
It took Emily a few attempts to get her vehicle started.
She turned to him. “Don’t let her get to you. You know what happened, and so do the cops. She’s just looking for someone to blame because her boyfriend died. It’s not your fault, and you know it. Besides, I’ll still say you were with me the whole time. I’ll give them some vivid details if they want.”
“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, dr
opped 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.
Modern Merlin Page 11
