by Cathy Gaitan
The magic team and Titus just returned from doing a cleansing sweep of the town. They were covered in sweat and coated with dust when they returned. Bea was in a lousy mood. It was probably because Julia came out to greet them looking fresh and clean straight from a shower while they looked like they’d crawled home through the sewer line.
Boom Hildie said the Dragon Lady had inserted several ‘backdoors’ to allow for easy re-access. Once they’d found one the others were easier to spot. It took a long time because none of them wanted to stop until they were certain they’d located all the doors and replaced them with our own. We can’t risk that Witch staging a sneak attack.
Pinkerton is helping get the initiates settled. A couple were injured during the battle. They didn’t have much hope of defending themselves following the transition due to their weakened state. It’s surprising more weren’t injured.
Pink said he was a little weirded out when Oz hijacked his power to blast that warlocks head off. After thinking about it though he decided it was a good thing. It helped him to view it from an observer’s perspective. It’s a weapon like a sword, a gun or a fist. He’s determined to learn how to control it like Oz did. Don’t tell anyone I said that!
I’m heading back to the training facility. I want to try tossing these ninja throwing stars somewhere safe. I know if I hit someone I will never hear the end of it. That kind of thing drives Julia Caesar crazy.
The building itself is still in pretty good condition. The grounds are a mess though. We got the rubble cleared out but there are huge gouges in the earth.
“Hey, Mercy. Wait up,” calls Carmony. She’s looking pretty chipper for some reason. “Are you going to go train?” She’s staring at the throwing stars in my hand so I guess she already has a good idea what I’m planning to do.
I nod. “I’ve decided to ramp up my ninja skills.” Carmony chuckles and I’m tempted to tell her to take a hike. I’m a ninja. Anyone who doubts it can stuff it. To her I say, “Did you need something?”
She smiles and rubs her hands together to put out the flame that erupted in her palm. She looks around us to make sure nobody overhears us, “I wanted to see if you’d like to try a one-on-one chain.”
“Yes!!!” I answer before she can change her mind. No way am I missing the opportunity to set fire to something! I might have a chance at those flame tipped shooting stars after all. Inner Mercy is doing her happy dance. Okay so is outer Mercy. So what!
“Mercy,” Carmony grabs my arm to stop me. “We need to be cool about this. No one can know.”
Be cool? Sometimes I wonder if these people even know me. I stop dancing and strike my most chill pose. I’d describe it but it’s too embarrassing.
“What is that? Stop it,” complains Carmony. “Just act like yourself.”
The minute she says it I forget how to do it. It’s weird. Suddenly walking makes me self-conscious. Do I normally walk like this? My arms feel weird. My stride feels off. Why is my head tilted?
“Oh, hell. Here comes Pink. Just look down,” Carmony orders. I’m staring at the ground like it’s the map of Mordor. I can feel Pinkerton approaching. I don’t know why I’m nervous. It’s just Pink. No big deal. Right?
“Hey, Carmony,” he stops right in front of me. I inspect his biker boots. They’re dusty, scratched like Pink was the last time I saw him. You know an hour ago. “Mercy,” he rumbles.
“Hey, Pink. What’s up,” I ask, not bothering to raise my head until Carmony jams her elbow into my side. I wish I hadn’t because he’s smirking at me in that way he has. The one that says he knows my secrets.
I glare at him. “We’re kind of busy right now. We’ll see you later,” I try to go around him but he grabs my hand and just like that the throwing stars in my hand catch fire. What the what? I drop them to the ground and stare as the tips of those stars continue to burn.
“How did you do that,” he asks. He stares at me then at our joined hands. “Did we do that?”
“Dammit Pink,” growls Carmony. “You jacked my experiment.” She’s seriously angry. There are flames dancing on the tips of her fingers.
He just grins unconcerned. Not that I thought he would be. He pulls me toward the shooting range. “Let’s see what else we can do.”
“Wait, my stars,” I shout. “I finally got them to do what I want. I haven’t even had a chance to throw them.” Carmony picks them up not at all bothered by the flames. She follows behind us with an annoyed expression.
“You’re not leaving me out of this,” she grumbles. “It was my idea.”
“Whatever. Get your own partner. Mercy’s mine,” declares Pink. I know he’s just saying it to aggravate her. That’s his thing.
“We can all participate,” Carmony insists.
“Wow, I didn’t know you were into kink,” chuckles Titus from out of nowhere. Great, just what we needed. Not! “So how long has this been going on,” he asks with a wiggle of his eyebrows and a twisted grin.
“You’re sick,” Carmony tells him with a disgusted curl of her lip. “And not invited. Get out!”
Titus ignores her and focuses on Pink. “What you up to Pinkerton?” He grins at him wickedly. Pink is no help. He’s laughing like an idiot.
“We’re just going to practice magic,” I inform him. He knows what we’re doing. He’s just a jackass. Carmony’s wringing her hands because the flames are getting bigger. Titus is obviously getting to her. He keeps rubbing his beard and giving us that twisted look. “Cut it out, Titus. You’re upsetting Carmony.”
Pink stops laughing and gives Titus a shove to his shoulder. “Give it a rest. We want to see what happens if we do a smaller link.”
Titus’ eyebrows go up and I yank his beard before he can open his mouth. “Don’t say it! If you don’t back off, I’m going to tell Julia.” Does that sound whiney? So what! It works. Julia is the one thing he’s afraid of. Well, that and a razor.
“Fine, I won’t say anything. I’ll just watch.” I ignore the warped twinkle in his eye.
We enter the shooting range. Pink’s still holding my hand. Is he afraid I’m going to try to run? Not a chance! I might actually get an opportunity to blow something up. Hopefully Titus keeps his word. I don’t want to have to answer to Julia if I end up blowing his head off.
The minute she’s lined up Carmony lobs my flamed tip throwing stars at the target one after the other. How dare she?! The target cracks down the center and the stars fall to the ground.
Pink and I look at one another. “Did we do that?” We ask in unison then grin and high-five each other. This team rocks!
“It’s my turn to have Mercy,” demands Carmony. I can hear Titus snickering behind me but I ignore him. Carmony doesn’t. “Shut up, Titus!”
I pull my hand from Pink’s grip and walk to Carmony. “Let’s try not to burn the building down,” I tell her as I reach for her hand. At first nothing happens. Suddenly Carmony lifts her hand. She points at a target and a flame tipped arrow shoots out of her forefinger dead center of the bulls-eye. We don’t have time to celebrate. When I open my mouth to sing our praises a stream of fire bursts out of it turning the target to ash. What the hell? Fear makes me immediately release her hand.
I touch my tongue. It’s cool to the touch. No pain just a slight tingle. With Carmony’s help I breath fire? Whoop-Whoop!! Bring on the Dragon Lady!
“Okay, that was badass,” Titus concedes. I whip up some popcorn to reward him. That’s the kind of comments I want to hear. He accepts the popcorn with a grin. He pretends to drink from a glass. “Ninja worthy,” he adds with a wink and an open hand. Fine. I reach into the air and grab a bottle of orange Fanta for him.
“What we did was badass,” insists Pinkerton. Is he actually jealous of the magic Carmony and I have?
“What you and Mercy did was cool,” Titus mumbles around a mouthful of popcorn. “What Carmony and Mercy did was badass.” He washes the popcorn down with a drink of Fanta. “See the difference?”
Pi
nk rolls his eyes. “Yeah, junk food.”
Titus shrugs. “Whatever. I see it the way I see it. Mercy and you cracked the target. Mercy and Carmony burned it to ash. No comparison.”
Pink holds his hand out to me. “Come on Mercy. Let’s do it again.”
Titus snorts out a laugh sending Fanta spewing everywhere. With a warped smile he says, “Give the nerd some rest. You and Carmony are going to wear her out.”
I send his treats back to where they came ignoring his protests. “I warned you,” I tell him. Sometimes you’ve just gotta stand your ground. Julia may like his twisted ways. And Bibidee Bea. And People magazine it seems. But I’m not them! I’ve got standards and apparently they’re Pink. Do not tell Pinkerton!
I take Pink’s hand and try to focus on the magic. Pink is staring hard at the next target but all it does is tremble a little. No cracks. No fire. Just a little bit of tremor.
“Hey, give her over. Maybe I should take a crack at her,” jokes Titus leaning towards me. One minute the target is there. The next it’s a pile of splinters and Titus is chuckling. He doesn’t realize how lucky he is that it wasn’t his head.
“Anger is the key,” He tells us matter-of-factly.
“Excuse me,” Pink is glaring at him.
“Anger sends your power into overdrive. Mercy was angry at Carmony when you cracked the first target. Carmony was angry at me when Mercy burned down the second target. You were angry at me when you decimated this target. Anger is the key,” he replies. He looks at me and holds out his hands expectantly. “Snacks.”
“Oh, whatever,” I sigh handing him a bag of Cheetos and a bottle of Dr. Pepper. He had better enjoy it while it lasts because I’m sure I’ll be taking it back soon.
“Let’s try a three-way chain,” Carmony suggests causing Titus to choke.
“You can’t seriously expect me not to comment on that,” he complains.
Carmony smirks at him. “On what?”
Titus looks at his bag of chips then back at me. “That’s so wrong. Come on, Mercy. Just one comment.”
“Nope. Now stop interrupting.” I take Carmony’s hand. The minute I do that a swirling ball of flame appears in the center of Pink’s palm. Carmony lifts her free hand and a matching ball of flame appears in her palm.
“Try to build on the flame,” Carmony tells him. “Imagine it expanding.”
Nothing happens at first. I close my eyes and try to picture the flames getting larger in my head but, instead, end up envisioning them multiplying. When I open my eyes again they’re each holding three swirling balls of flames. The flames are rotating quickly now.
“Send one at the target,” Carmony says. She’s obviously in her element. She’s comfortable enough to give orders which is not like her normally.
Pink does as she asks. The first one flies at the target but falls to the ground before it makes contact. He groans in disgust.
“No worries,” she assures him. “Try again.”
He sends the next one flying and this time it heads over the top of the target. Pink curses in frustration. Before she can ask him to try another he sends the last ball of flame barreling to the target.
“Score,” I shout as the target goes up in flames. Pink is all smiles now.
Carmony lobs hers at the last target in quick succession. With a loud blast the target explodes. She has got her power well in hand.
“Way to go, Carmony,” Titus praises. He raises his hand to high-five her but when she reciprocates he grabs hold and locks himself into the chain.
“My turn,” he announces.
“You smell like Cheetos,” Carmony complains turning her face away from him.
“Quit trying to charm me. I’ve already got a girl,” he admonishes.
“Oh, get over yourself, Titus,” she mutters. “You’re not as good as you think you are.”
“Haven’t you heard? I’m the Sexiest Zombie Not Alive,” he replies obnoxiously.
People magazine has so much to answer for with that selection. It’s bad enough we have to see his face on every news stand but to have to put up with his bragging is beyond annoying.
Carmony ignores his comment. She’s finally learning. “Are you going to actually do something with your borrowed magic,” she asks impatiently.
Titus grins and lifts his pointer finger up for her to see. The tip is glowing and sparks are shooting from it. “Watch and learn.” He points to the far wall then waves his hand. His finger acts like a laser scorching his image into the wall. Great. As if the magazine wasn’t enough. Now we have to see his grinning image every time we practice.
“Where did you learn to do that,” asks Carmony. I guess she’s never tried it.
“Here,” he points to his temple. “I figured it out. Magic is all about imagination. First you need to be able to visualize what you want. Second you need to believe that you can do it. “
He’s losing me a little with the visualization. Don’t get me wrong. I have a great imagination but to focus it all on a thing I’ve never done or seen done is kind of foreign to me. I guess it just takes practice. That I can do.
“That was a cute little trick,” Pinkerton says. “But I think it’s best if you leave the heavy duty stuff to us.”
Titus clucks his tongue at him. “That was just a warm up. I’ve got some moves that will blow your mind. Just try to control your envy.”
Pink rolls his eyes. “Yeah, okay. I’ll do my best.”
Just as he says that Titus opens his hand and a burst of light hits the pile of ash where the target Carmony disintegrated was. The particles of ash begin to swirl forming a small funnel. The speed increases until it’s just a blur. When everything clears the target is back where it was with not a mark on it as though nothing had occurred.
“That’s amazing,” I shout because that’s the kind of magic I can get behind. Being able to reverse the damage you do is way cool. For someone who makes as many mistakes as I do that could come in really handy. If I had that power a couple of months back nobody would have ever known about my unfortunate haircut.
“That wasn’t bad,” agrees Pinkerton. “That skill would have been useful when Julia skewered Mercy’s heart.”
“True but then we wouldn’t have known how hard impossible it is to kill a Zombie,” Titus responds. “No pain no gain right?”
“Those kind of comments only really work if you’re talking about yourself,” I say through gritted teeth. Though I don’t know why I bother. This is Titus I’m talking to after all. I may as well be speaking to a brick wall.
“No. I’m pretty sure they work anytime,” he argues just for the sake of arguing. Whatever. I choose not to be drawn in.
“Let’s concentrate on the magic. Do you have any other tricks you want to show off?” I’m making note of the things I want to try out later. Damage reversal is at the top right now.
“Check this one out,” he makes a show of reaching into his blue jean pocket and pulling out a bolt of lightning.
It’s blindingly bright in his hand. It looks like it would burn but he grips it like it’s nothing. I so want to reach out and touch it but I’m locked into the chain and I couldn’t release if I wanted to. And I do. I really, really do.
“I’d toss it but I don’t really want to damage any more buildings. I’ll save this one for a rainy day,” with a chuckle he tucks it back into his pocket.
I hate to admit it but he had some pretty cool magic.
“Well, what do we have here,” ask Bibidee Bea from the entrance. She glances at the wall with Titus’ face scorched into and smiles. “I see you’ve done some upgrading. Nice! I’m going to need a matching one of those on my ceiling.”
“Sorry, Witch, but I’m taken,” Titus responds. “But maybe Ozgood could spot you.”
Bea grunts and Boom Hildie says, “That’s the stuff of nightmares.”
“Those kind of nightmares I don’t mind,” murmurs DaniElle. “Sign me up.”
“Have you always had poor
taste or is this a new development,” asks Hildie. Her dislike of Oz has not diminished. What is up with that?
“I have excellent taste,” insists Australian Witch.
Bea snorts. “Yeah, David Hasselhoff is the bomb.”
“He’s a hero,” DaniElle declares. “He saved countless lives on Baywatch.”
“So, what are you Zombies up to,” ask Hildie. She takes in the damage to the targets and nods in approval. “A little tag team magic?”
“Something like that,” Pinkerton acknowledges.
“We just wanted to see what we could do,” explains Carmony nervously.
“And what could you do,” Bea looks at her with a serious expression and Carmony nearly faints. What is her problem?
“It’s just Bea,” I whisper to her. “Keep it together.”
“Titus has a lightning bolt in his jeans,” Carmony stutters.
Hildie and the Aussie snicker and Bea gives Titus the once over. “I just bet he does,” she murmurs.
Carmony’s face turns beet red. “No, a real lightning bolt.”
Hildie shakes her head sadly and pats Carmony’s shoulder. “It’s the oldest trick in the Warlock book. I bet Oz taught him that one.”
Titus and Pinkerton are laughing of course so I take it upon myself to say, “He showed it to us.” Titus almost falls over he’s laughing so hard. Why is he like this?
Bea looks nonplussed. “Why does all the good stuff happen when I’m not around?”
I turn and glare at Titus. “Just show her your lightning bolt,” I growl. When Pinkerton bends in half laughing I sigh. Men suck.
“Yes, Titus. Show us what you got,” encourages Bea with a flutter of her lashes.
“Witch, you need to forget my man and find your own,” yells Julia from behind us. Bad to worse.
Titus immediately let’s go of Carmony’s hand and breaks the chain. Carmony and I look at one another and head for the exit. Nothing good can come of this.
Chapter Eleven
I can’t decide what to do about Pink.
So, I’ve chosen to avoid him.
‘When in doubt get the hell out.’
