Kitten didn’t care and proceeded to lie down and start licking his privates. I guess this was as good a place as any to do that. John picked up the ornate litter box and we headed back to the beer table.
We got fresh pints and toasted litter boxes (may they always be clean) and being able to lick your own privates (It’s a guy thing).
I gave John a very heartfelt and slightly soggy thanks and he assured me it was no problem. One of the best things he loved about being part mountain troll was his ability to shape metal. As far as he knew, he was the only one who had it.
Apparently, his dad had befriended a mountain troll back in Scotland. They would eat rocks together and listen to the wind and the earth. It was his quiet place away from his wife and his six sons and seven daughters. The troll’s magic and the rocks gradually changed his dad into a troll too. Before his dad finally walked into the mountain, never to return, he and his wife had one last fling and John was born soon after. The mountain was strong in John and it only became more so as time passed. Because he is so strong in mountain-troll magic he can’t have kids. He married for love, but lost his wife as she wanted children. This was a painful experience and he vowed never to marry again. He lived with lots of his clan children until he broke his great, great, great nephew out of jail (framed for murder). He ate some rocks, trashed the other clans, and trashed the town. He did it to save his clan, as they were all going to do what John did and get into a lot of trouble. Since both of them were now outlaws, they left Scotland and had lots of grand adventures together. His nephew died eventually and it was much more emotionally painful that John thought it would be. John found a House in Chicago and just sat for more than a hundred years grieving. He was there so long that everyone thought he was just a statue. One day this beautiful but annoying woman came to him. She got in the habit of just sitting and talking to him. She was passionate, forceful, sad, lost, and couldn’t have kids as well. That touched something in John and he related for the first time in a long time. When she started to get into battles, he went along with her as he didn’t want her to get hurt. She pulled him out of his shell and one day after a battle they became lovers. Both of them agreed they were not relationship people. They like each other and spending time with each other but that is it. Sandy will live for a long time and they bond on things that he understands. This is a good pairing. He will do anything for her and will defend her with his life. He is earth to her fire.
I was weeping at the end of his story. It was so beautiful and tragic and romantic.
We toasted his mountain home and the rocks he ate as a child. We toasted his dad and his mom, may they rest in peace. We toasted earth and we toasted fire.
John showed me a ring he was working on. It was an emerald ring, with the band made out of white and yellow gold. It was mostly white gold, with a vine wrapped around the ring and these little tiny leaves on it. The veins of the leaves and the vine were in yellow gold and the rest in white. The detail of it all was stunning. There was even a tiny ladybug on one side and fly on the other. At the top of the ring, the leaves made a nest for the emerald. It still had the dark non-emerald rock at the bottom and the top had been cut away to reveal the dark green stone. The way it had been cut suggested the petals of a rose.
I think it was the most beautiful thing I had seen in my life so far. John said there was a flaw in the emerald so it really wasn’t worth much to the rest of the world. To him, it had seemed like a flower and that was the start of the ring.
We toasted the ring and we toasted flowers.
This moment was perfect and we toasted all the beauty in the world.
Somewhere in there the floor got very rude. It jumped up at me and smacked me in the face. John thought that was hysterical and so did I. He picked me up, put me on my feet, and the floor jumped up and smacked me in the face again.
I decided that maybe I better hug the floor for a while, that way it would behave. John thought that was a good idea and maybe he’d hug the floor with me. We crawled over to a thick rug and I snuggled up to him. The kitten joined us like a cherry on top of a sundae.
I told John I loved him and he would be my brother forever. John said he loved me to and we would eat rocks together. In fact, we would go rock hunting soon and listen to the earth and the wind. I wasn’t sure about that but he was now my brother so I guess it would be ok.
We laughed and talked about things I don’t remember, and finally fell into a peaceful sleep.
13 Painted to Circle
I was running through an old subway tunnel. All around me water dripped from the walls and I heard the trickle of water from a small stream. I had to pee but I could see the water was hitting the third rail. Occasionally it let off a shower of sparks. I couldn’t pee here without shocking consequences so I ran further down the tunnel, looking for a dry spot. It seemed like I ran forever until a conductor showed up under a spot light. He grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me. He kept telling me to go to the light but he was shaking me harder and harder. Finally, a snake came down from the ceiling, wrapped around my leg, and hoisted me into the air.
I woke up to John holding me in the air by one leg and shaking me. That is not the best way to begin a morning.
I mumbled something and John dropped me back on the rug again. “Wake up lad! We don’t want to be late for Sandy’s circle. She’s a good lass but she doesn’t take kindly to be being kept waiting. No sir. Not at all.”
Oh my god! It wasn’t morning, it was now night and time for my first magic circle. Sandy was depending on me!
I looked at John in a stupid panic and he had to shake me again. What the heck was wrong with me? Then it all came back, the pints, the toasting, passing out on the floor. Oh god.
As I staggered off to the bathroom, I realized I was still foggy. My head pounded, my mouth tasted like week old socks, and I was having problems thinking. I peed long enough to put out a small fire and made it back to the kitchen, where John pulled me a pint.
I waved it off with a look of disgust. I’d already had way too much of the stuff. The last thing I needed was to show up more drunk than I already was.
“Now see here, lad. You need this,” John said. “Sandy isn’t going to be happy you showing up like this for her circle.”
“I know that,” I said. “That’s why I’m saying no to any more of your stuff. I need water, not beer.”
“That’s where you are wrong,” John said sagely. “Just a touch will do you. It will give you confidence, clear your head, and take that hang dog look off your face.”
I said no a few more times but John wasn’t taking that for an answer. I finally drank his pint, and surprisingly it did make me feel better. After the pint of beer, I then drank a pint of water.
John got a call from Sandy, Annabeth and her were almost ready. I ran to pee again and I noticed I was feeling a lot steadier now. John was looking worried about the time.
“You’re not ready, lad. I let you sleep a bit more, figured it would do you good. Now I’m afraid we are going to be late and you do not want to make Sandy wait.” He was practically dancing in anxiety.
“What else is there?” I asked looking around wildly. I thought I just showed up. Was there some sort of magical something I needed to do to prepare?
“You need to get painted,” John said. “Get your spirit totems on.” He pulled out a set of paints and brushes. They were basic colors, like red, green, white, brown.
“Quick now, strip down and I’ll help you paint.” John said. “What animals or symbols did Sandy tell you to use?”
“Sandy didn’t tell me anything!” I was panicking now. She had been totally distracted by the runes, we hadn’t had a conversation about this.
“Well, she always says it is the spirit of it all that counts.” John was pulling my shirt off over my head. “We’ll just go with what makes you happy and hopefully that will be good enough. Quickly, now, get out of those clothes and grab a brush.”
Before I kne
w it, I was naked and holding a paintbrush loaded down with red body paint.
“Let’s see, you like to pee a lot so let’s go with a stream on your side.” John had a blue brush and began painting wavy lines down the ribs. The paint was cold and the brush tickled. I squirmed but John was insistent and told me to get painting on what I could reach.
I always liked the cheetah. So I painted a running cat on my chest. John thought I needed grounding so he did lumps of earth on my feet and legs. I liked the idea of clouds so I started painting white fluffy shapes on my shoulders.
John was obsessed with not being late and he kept telling me it was the idea that mattered. Sandy would tell me how to do a better job next time, or she could to it herself.
He worked on my back where I couldn’t reach, while I was doing green grass on my nether regions. That seemed appropriate to me somehow.
We turned on a fan so I would dry quickly as he got a brush loaded up with blue paint and drew some lines on my face. I guess I looked like a football player now with those lines under their eyes. I wasn’t sure how much of a shaman I looked like but it would have to do.
I occurred to me to ask John why he wasn’t getting painted. He said it was because he wasn’t magical. He was basically a placeholder for a real mage. He said that is one of the things that really ticked off the Louisville mages. Sandy thought a natural could participate in a circle. Apparently, that was radical thinking bordering on heresy.
The paint wasn’t dry yet but John said we couldn’t wait any more. I’d just have to go like I was. He knew a back way to the circle, though and I’d be ok.
That’s how I came to be running down the hall, naked as the day I was born, and painted within an inch of my life. Once again, I thought that life in the House was strange. Not bad, just strange.
My last naked run had been in the hotel and ended in disaster. Hopefully this would be much better.
John was right behind me. “See that blue door that sparkles? That’s the one you want,” he said.
The door even looked magical. It had swirls of blue with a hint of a sparkle here and there. I don’t know if was the light or my changing angle of view but the shades of blue seemed to whorl a bit.
I stopped before the door and looked at John for confirmation. He nodded impatiently. I took a deep breath to clear my head even more. That extra pint was working. I was still feeling a bit of a buzz, but in a good way. I touched my magic and it felt good. It felt ready. I was ready. I could do this.
I turned the knob and stepped inside.
The room was dimly light so it took my eyes a moment to adjust. There was a single light in the center of the room focused on a big gold circle in the middle of the floor. I thought there would be magic symbols or something in it, but it was just a thick line of gold or brass in the wooden floor.
John came in and shut the door behind him. My eyes were adjusting and now I could see a couple benches up against the walls and that was it. Clearly this was a single purpose room.
Sandy and Annabeth were sitting on one of the benches. It looked like they had been sitting together talking, now they were staring at us, open mouthed, in shock.
Correction, they were staring at me. Sandy recovered first. She stood up and glared at John.
“What did you do?” she growled.
“Nothing,” John said innocently. “I got him ready for the circle.” There was a curious catch in his voice.
It occurred to me Sandy and Annabeth were not painted, or naked. They looked casual and normal—t-shirts, jeans, sneakers.
“John!” Sandy snapped. That’s when John lost it and started laughing. Once he started he couldn’t stop.
Oh my god. I’d been pranked. John had set me up!
“This is serious!” There was pure ice in Sandy’s voice and she was giving him full-on death stare.
“And you.” She rounded on me. “How could you let him do that? You know this is important! I bet he got you drunk too.” She sniffed the air. “Yep. His famous lager if I’m not mistaken.”
I started stammering something while glaring at John myself. I wasn’t sure what to do. I felt mortified and stupid. How could I have fallen for this? It just seemed so natural at the time.
The moment seemed frozen between outrage and humor and Annabeth broke the tie. I heard a snort. I looked over and Annabeth was laughing too. She waved at me as if to say she was sorry and all, but once she started she couldn’t stop.
I looked down at myself. I did look pretty ridiculous. I couldn’t help it, I started chuckling too. John and Annabeth’s laughter was infectious.
My chuckling turned into a full-on laugh attack. I was laughing so hard I was gasping for air and tears were running down my face. I thought the tears were going to ruin my face paint, which got me started laughing all over again.
Somewhere in here, Sandy joined us and we just let it out. Life had been so serious and overwhelming lately that it felt amazing to just let it all go.
It finally died out until John proudly pointed out his handiwork on my back. He’d written “Sandy is hot” and “crack kills” with an arrow pointed down. It really wasn’t that funny, but that set us off again.
John took off his shirt and gave it to me. It was so big it covered me all the way down to my knees. I figured if I got paint on it then that was his problem.
I thought I’d go get cleaned up but Sandy was serious about the circle. We’d taken time out to have fun but we really needed to recharge some of their charms.
“Jason, since this your first time in the circle let’s go over what we are trying to do and how you can help,” Sandy said.
“First of all, you don’t need to get in touch with your inner shaman.” She paused to glare at John again. “All you need is to wear comfortable clothing and be in touch with your magic.”
“Speaking of which, can you feel your magic ok? I know John’s had you drinking.” I assured her I could feel my magic and, although I was still a bit buzzed, I felt like I could work with her.
“Good,” she said. “Let’s begin by getting in a circle and holding hands.” We gathered around the gold ring and joined hands. If we stepped away from each other and held our arms out, we had enough space for the ring to be in the middle. Going around the circle there was Sandy, John, Me, Annabeth, back to Sandy.
“I’m going to lead the circle and direct the flow of magic. What you are looking to do is have magic energy enter your right hand, flow through your body, and exit your left hand. You want to accept the magic from your partner on the right and give to your partner on the left. Let’s begin.”
I wasn’t sure if I should shut my eyes or chant something or what. I watched Sandy and she just looked off into the distance, her focus was clearly internal. Annabeth’s eyes were closed with her head tilted down a bit, also internally focused. I guess it didn’t matter.
I was feeling a bit nervous and distracted so I figured I’d close my eyes and concentrate that way.
“House, some circle music if you please.”
A light flute started playing and was quickly joined by some sort of base instrument. A cello maybe. It had a slow beat and a comfortable melody without being distracting.
I touched my magic and started the flow. I’d always been able to feel my magic, but I hadn’t started working with how it flowed internally until this afternoon with Sandy. (Has it really only been this afternoon? If feels like forever ago.) The concept of flow was easy for me though, so I felt toward John for energy and pushed it toward Annabeth. I started out with a trickle, though, as this was still so new to me.
John’s magic felt very dense, like I was trying to move honey. Honey was a good simile too as his magic felt very rich and earthy. I wonder what my magic felt like to Annabeth?
“Good,” Sandy spoke up. “I can feel the circle starting. What we are doing is spinning our magic and in the process we are influencing the neutral magic in the circle to spin also. If we can spin the magic fast enough,
it will create a vortex and compress some of that magic into its denser form. From there the charms will absorb it and get refilled.”
I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or everyone or what. It was helpful to know what we were doing, though, and it made for a great visual.
“We have some flow, now let’s pick up the pace a bit more.”
The pace of the music picked up slightly and I felt the power level of the circle jump. John’s power was flowing into me much faster and I was pushing it out to Annabeth as fast as I could. I felt like we had switched from the flow of a lazy creek to a fast-moving stream. I realized I was breathing quickly so I smoothed that out and took deeper breaths.
It took several moments but finally I got my footing and felt comfortable moving at this pace. I had only been in the groove for a few moments when Sandy spoke up again.
“We are doing good. Now it’s time for third gear.”
The music picked up the pace and the speed level doubled again. The magic went from a fast-moving regular stream to a flooded raging torrent of power. I wasn’t guiding and pushing the power so much anymore. I was a conduit for the energy so I just hung on, contributed what I could, and enjoyed the ride.
“Fourth gear. Vortex time.”
I head Annabeth groan as the speed level doubled again. I wasn’t contributing at all as the power raced through me. This is what I imagined hanging on to a live wire felt like. My muscles shook and twitched but I didn’t let go. The music was at a frantic pace now, racing along like the magic.
I opened my eyes. I had to see this. Sandy was shining like an angel. Full of power and fury. She was the engine of our circle and she was revved up. Her magic was not only flowing through us, but skimming along our circle outside us. It was creating a vortex too. I could see motes of pure magic in the air, like a host of fireflies. They were getting sucked into our circle and condensed into a bright column.
Misfit Mage Page 16
