Magic Heist

by Mary Karlik

  Amelia hooked her arm with Layla’s. “It’s a sad club we belong to.”

  “It is. Not one I’d wish on my worst enemy.”

  Amelia stopped in front of a shop. “Here we are.” She pointed to the window high above the door. “That’s where we grew up.”

  Layla felt a soft whisper of magic. She grounded her feet and opened herself to the sensation. Power hummed beneath her soles, and an uneasy feeling crawled over her skin.

  “Are you alright?” Buzzard whipped his gaze to her. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  Layla stepped back from the storefront. “There is powerful magic around this place. Can you feel it, Amelia?”

  Amelia shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Try. It feels like energy coming from the earth.”

  “Sort of a buzzing?” Amelia’s eyes grew anxious, and she tapped her feet in a little dance. “It’s odd. Like there are bees trying to burst through.”

  “Exactly.” Layla clasped her hands together and did a little dance of her own.

  A heavy-set man exited from the shop. “Amelia? Are you coming in, or is this just a tourist stop?” His words had an edge, but his eyes were bright and teasing.

  “Hi, Martin. How’s Angus doing?”

  Martin grinned down at Amelia. “Back to chasing mice. He never catches anything—just in it for the chase.”

  Amelia winked. “He’s a tom after all.” The smile left her face, but her expression remained soft. “Listen, Martin. My brother Ian has gone missing, and his mates think it’s tied to the house. Can we have a look around?”

  Martin rubbed the palm of one hand over the back of the other. “Tied to the house? You mean what happened to your parents? That was a long time ago.” He looked at Buzzard. “We’ve lived here for years. We’ve changed things. There can’t be any evidence left.”

  Buzzard scanned the windows of the flat above the store. “Probably not, but I’d like to get a sense of the place just the same.”

  “It would mean a lot to us.” Amelia’s voice was soft and a bit begging. “We won’t need to touch anything.”

  Buzzard looked up at the windows. “We don’t need to go into the flat. I’d like to see the back garden.”

  “The back garden?” Martin scratched his knuckles.

  Buzzard nailed him with his gaze. “Is there something you don’t want us to see?”

  “No. It’s just surprising that’s all.” He opened the door and waved them inside, but he was skittish, and Layla was certain he was hiding something.

  He led them through the shop and called to a dark-haired boy stocking shelves. “James, mind the till for a few.”

  “Aye.” The boy barely looked up from the shelves as they trooped to the back of the shop.

  Layla had never been in a human grocer’s before though it looked much like the shops in her realm. But the feeling of magic was strong. So strong that her wing tips refused to remain wrapped over her shoulders.

  “Mind your wings, lass,” Buzzard whispered into her ear.

  Martin looked back at her. He didn’t say anything, but she wondered if he’d heard.

  They passed through a door in the back of the shop and down a short corridor. Amelia stopped by a closed door and hugged her waist.

  Andrew stood behind Amelia with his hands on her shoulders. He looked up at Layla. “This is where we found them.”

  Martin’s whole body seemed to droop. “I’m not keen on this room. It’s as if it holds sadness.” He placed his hand on the knob. “Are you sure you want to see it?”

  Amelia took a shaky breath. “It might be good to see it again. Maybe it could replace the memory of—of before.”

  When the door opened, a wall of energy rushed from the room. Layla felt it wash over her, but it hit Martin full-on causing him to stumble back. “What was that?”

  Everybody looked a little stunned by the experience. Layla had no idea what it was, but the phrase stale magic came to mind when she tried to define the feeling.

  Buzzard leaned into the room and looked around. “There’s the source.” He pointed to a window on the other side of the room. “It’s just a draft.”

  Martin peeked through the doorway. “I’m sure you’re right.” He backed away and returned to scratching his knuckles.

  Amelia looked at Buzzard as if he was as dumb as an ogre. “I don’t know what you felt. But what came out of that room was no draft.” She stared into the room like a lost child. “We found Mum and Dad just there, in the middle of the floor.” She pointed to the center of the room. “Their throats had been slashed, and a river of blood flowed toward the doorway.” She took a deep breath and held it for a beat before releasing it in a whoosh. “Do you have ghosts? Could it be…?”

  “No.” Martin’s eyes widened, and Layla sensed that there was a but hidden in his expression.

  Andrew squeezed Amelia’s shoulders. “Come on. We’ve seen enough.”

  She nodded and allowed him to guide her away from the storeroom. The rest of the group followed.

  As Layla passed the room, she stepped inside. Brown boxes filled the shelves that lined the walls of the storeroom. The window Buzzard had pointed to was dirty, and there were black bars covering the outside. Layla walked to the middle and spread her arms wide. She felt the buzz of magic, but it was odd. Stale yes, but also a little disorganized.

  “Feel anything?” Theo stood in the doorway.

  “Aye. This room has had some powerful magic. It’s like there’s leftover energy that’s been bouncing around looking for a way out.”

  “He’s in and out of the room. I mean look at it. He clearly uses it for storage. So where does the magic come from?” Theo looked around the room.

  “I don’t know, but this room is more than just the place where a horrible murder occurred.”

  Buzzard appeared behind Theo. “Come on. We’re going to the garden.”

  Layla and Theo followed Buzzard down the hallway to a door leading to the back garden.

  They met the others on a stone patio. When Layla stepped onto the patio, her breath hitched. Across the lawn, nestled between two birch trees was a two-story structure with twin gables and an arched doorway. A circle window was in the upper half of the door. Faded stripes of pink and purple paint covered the weathered wood of the structure. To one side of the house was a window box bursting with germaniums. Shrink it ten times over and it could have been any fairy home in her village. In fact, it looked very much like the house across from the school.

  Andrew craned his neck to look at the slated arbor shading the patio. “That’s new. Mum always wanted shade here.”

  Amelia nodded. “Mum would have loved that.” A soft smile spread on her face as she looked across the lawn. “It’s lovely to see the Wendy house still here.”

  Martin stood next to Amelia. “Aye. Emma spent hours playing there. When she went off to university, we started using it as a pottery shed.”

  “Of course, it makes perfect sense.” Amelia walked halfway to the Wendy house and turned back to the patio. “Nanna was about here. I was inside the Wendy house watching from the front window.”

  Andrew joined her on the lawn and pointed to a window above the shop. “My bedroom was the third window.”

  Layla walked to Andrew and Amelia. The energy that hummed against her feet felt like a million bees buzzing from just beneath the soil, and the air around her vibrated against her skin. “Magic is strong here. Do you feel it?”

  “Aye.” Amelia turned to Martin. “Has anything … unusual happened in this garden?”

  Martin’s ruddy cheeks turned white, and he swallowed hard. “It’s always been a bit weird, but after you took Angus in, it took another turn.” He rubbed his palm hard against his knuckles.

  “What happened?” Buzzard cocked his head toward the man.

  Martin’s gaze darted to the Wendy house and back. “It’s hard to explain. It doesn’t seem possible.”

  “Whatever it was, w
e’ll believe you. Just describe what you saw.” Buzzard spoke in a soothing tone.

  “Aye. As long as you promise not to lock me up in the loony bin.”

  “No judgment,” Buzzard answered.

  “Bess was cleaning the Wendy house when it happened. We heard a song coming from there.” He pointed to the ground where Amelia, Andrew, and Layla stood. “There was something else. It’s in the Wendy house. We haven’t gone in since Bess hid it there.”

  Layla’s heart jumped. Had Amelia inadvertently opened the portal? Had a magical creature fallen into this world? Were they holding it hostage? She narrowed her eyes at the man. “I need to see it.” She started toward the door.

  “Wait.” Martin grabbed her shoulder where her wing folded over the top. He snapped his hand away and studied her back. “What kind of wrap is that? What’s going on here?”

  Andrew moved next to Martin. “They think whoever took Ian is tied to my parents’ murder. Please show us what’s in that Wendy house.”

  Martin stepped away from Layla. “But she … look, I know there’s magic here. I’d be a fool to deny it. Bess is so frightened she won’t come out here anymore. To be honest, I don't like it much either.”

  Buzzard gave a subtle nod to Layla before speaking to Martin. “She’ll keep you safe. But she needs to see what’s in that shed.”

  Layla walked to the Wendy house feeling the buzz of magic every step of the way. She stopped in front of the house and tried to feel the nature of what was inside. Was it evil like a red cap? Whatever it was, she had to see it. She hesitated before pulling the door open. She sucked in a deep breath and prepared to throw a spell at whatever awaited her inside. But when she pulled the door open, there was no fairy or red cap or living being at all. Just a stone in the center of the room. It was a dragon’s eye much like the one inlaid in the hilt of her sword but bigger—much bigger.

  Layla picked up the stone and brought it outside. “It’s a dragon’s eye. Common enough. Why keep it in there?”

  Martin stood mid-way across the lawn nervously rubbing the hairs off his knuckles.

  “It’s not just a stone. It winks, and blinks, and looks around. Like it’s alive, like it’s a real eye.”

  Buzzard looked at Layla. “It’s like the one on the end of your sword.”

  “Aye.” To Martin, she said, “The light reflecting off of the stone gives the illusion that it’s winking, but it’s just a trick of the eye.”

  Martin nodded at the stone. “Is that what you call a trick of the eye?”

  The red stone with the black center blinked and then appeared to look around the garden. Layla almost dropped the thing. “I’ve never seen it do that before.”

  The humming from the earth grew louder, and the magic in the air pricked at her skin.

  Martin stared at the stone. “Get it away from me.”

  Layla took a few steps back from Martin. “Have there been other odd things?”

  “Every now and again. But nothing like that rock.”

  Buzzard stood with Martin. “Have either of you spoken to the police about the incident?”

  “And be laughed at? Not hardly.”

  Layla carried the stone where Amelia and Andrew stood in the center of the lawn. As she neared, the hum grew louder. Magic buzzed along her body causing every hair to stand on end. She tried to keep her wings against her back but whatever the magic was, it forced them open wide.

  The stone grew so hot she dropped it. It landed on the spot Amelia had said the red cap had come through. The stone glowed, and the black spot in the center swiveled like a giant pupil scanning for something. It lined up on the back of the shop and stopped. The ground quieted and the humming became more organized and melodic. Sound rose through the dirt and grass and poured over Layla, and her wings lifted her from the ground.

  Amelia clutched Andrew’s arm. Buzzard and Theo backed toward the house. Martin ran to the shed, grabbed a shovel, and charged Layla.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ian and Finn trekked back through the narrow path, ducking and squeezing along until they were at the edge of the bog where they’d seen the Grey Man. Ian slowed his breathing and tucked away his anxiety as he scanned the area.

  To the right of them was the bog, and to the left was a thick, dark forest. Finn pointed straight ahead to a steep hill covered with grass, scree, and boulders. “We’ll just make it over that hill to the sea. The opening to the den can be accessed from the beach. It’s too small for the dragons to use, but we need to get there at low tide—which is not far off.”

  “Another reason not to waste time. At least we don’t have the Grey Man to deal with.”

  “Aye, but it’s the creatures Dorach doesn’t control that worries me.” Finn led them alongside the black water of the bog, but they might as well have been trudging through the water. With every step, Ian’s bare feet sunk into the mud. They were numb from the cold. And as the cold spread up his legs, he began to shiver. His looked at the forest. “Is there a reason we’re mucking in this mess and not taking a path through the trees?”

  Finn cut his eyes to the trees. “There are hidden dangers in that forest. At least here in the open, we can see what’s about to attack.”

  Three steps farther, Ian heard a crash from the forest followed by squeals. A creature bolted from the trees. At first, it looked like a wild hog. Tusks curled outward from either side of its mouth, and its body was covered with brown hide dotted with patches of long, white hair.

  But then Ian saw its legs. The back looked like a hare, and its front legs had long body-ripping claws. With wild, red-rimmed eyes and green spittle dribbling down its jowls, it raised its snout and squealed again. Adrenaline kicked in, and Ian forgot about the cold gnawing his ankles.

  Ian and Finn looked at each other and broke into a dead run. Finn nocked an arrow as they ran. They took cover behind a boulder, and two more hare-hog creatures charged from the trees.

  Finn released the arrow, catching the closest beast in the chest.

  The other two ran past the downed hog.

  Ian and Finn scrambled to the next rock, and Finn let loose a second arrow. He hit the hog in the right eye, and it fell to the ground like the first one.

  Before Finn got the next arrow off, the first creature began to twitch and buck. A scream pierced through the snarls of the other animal, and the downed hare-hog split into two creatures and continued the chase. The other fallen hog did the same.

  Finn tucked his bow over his shoulder and ran farther up the hill. “I don’t know how to stop them.”

  “Let’s try fire.” Ian dropped his kilt and shifted.

  Finn nodded. “Stay low if you can. The last thing we need is to attract the dragons.”

  In his dragon form, he was faster and stronger than the hogs. But if he killed them, would they split and regenerate? He flew over them and prepared to shoot fire. But those things were fierce, and the lead animal leaped to attack him.

  He avoided the hit and nailed it with a ball of fire. Its blackened body dropped to the ground. Ian circled above and waited for it to revive. But it didn’t.

  He turned and shot fire at the rest of the beasts.

  As soon as the fight was over, Ian flew back to Finn and shifted to his human form.

  “Well done, mate.” Finn flipped his bow over his shoulder. “And no trouble with the dragon-spirit?”

  Ian hadn’t even felt the spirit stir. It was a glimpse of what it would be like to be a shifter, without having to deal with the bloody thing. “No. I was so focused on those things, I forgot about it.”

  Finn inspected the burned-out bodies. “Let’s just hope it lets you forget about it a while longer.”

  Ian spread his plaid on the ground. “Aye. What were those things?”

  “They’re called bog crawlers. Some people think they’re what’s left of the unfortunate creatures who wandered into the dark magic of the black frost.”

  “That’s not comforting.” Ian laid on the
center of the fabric and fixed it around his legs. “We’ve made it up the hill. Where to now?”

  Finn looked down the hill. “We just have to pass through the forest and down to the sea.”

  Ian followed Finn’s gaze. “The forest we’ve been avoiding?”

  “Aye. But just a corner of it. There’s no other way.”

  Ian stood and adjusted the ends of his kilt. “Lead the way. I can’t wait to see what’s next. A bunny-bear? Wolf-sparrow? Lion-snake?”

  “Wolf-sparrow? Would that be a wolf with the legs of a sparrow or a sparrow with the head of a wolf?”

  They continued to discuss the possibilities of bizarre animal crosses as they made their way around a cliff and down a grass-covered slope into the forest.

  The atmosphere changed as soon as they were in the shelter of the trees. It was not like any other place Ian had been. Shadows crossed over them although there were no clouds in the sky. A dark, sinister feeling rose from the ground and wafted between the trees, causing the hairs on Ian’s neck to stand on high alert. A chill rippled down his spine, and he wiggled his torso as if he could shake the uneasiness away. “What are these shadows?”

  “Cràdh. Keep your thoughts positive.” Finn looked through the leaves. “They feed on—”

  “Negative emotion. Aye, I know.”

  Finn stopped. “How do you know about the Cràdh?”

  “Layla had one.”

  Finn whipped around to Ian. “Layla had one? I never knew.”

  “It left her after we defeated Fauth.”

  Finn turned and walked backward. “I’ve never heard of one just leaving the body.”

  “It wasn’t a pleasant sight. It told Layla it was there to make her strong.”

  “That’s a load of bollocks.” Finn looked around. “I think we’re past the Cràdh, but I’d keep positive thoughts just in case. They won’t infect you unless you’re experiencing a negative emotion.”

  “I won’t be sad when we leave this place.”

  Finn stopped. “Don’t move.”