Living Magic and Dead Mages Chapter 5

Staring at the house, Mike got off the bike. He turned it around so that if they had to flee for their lives, he wouldn’t have to turn it around when something was trying to kill them. Mandy was staring at the house, holding the spotlight in nervous hands.

“Want me to give it a blast?”

Mike rolled his eyes. “It’s a house,Mandy.”

“Well, yeah.” Mandy nodded. “A house that just appeared now, because I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve never seen it. Mike, we came up here for picnics when we were little and walked right through where the house is currently sitting.”  She brought the spotlight up. “Fire ze ray!”

Moments later, the front of the house was bathed in the blazing beam from the spotlight.

“It’s not melting,” Mike said, blinking at the backscatter from the spotlight. I bet there are people down in town that can see that light.

“I just wanted to be certain.” Mandy switched the spotlight off. “So… now we have a magical, totally-not-spooky house.”

“Which doesn’t evaporate,” Mike said. So it’s real. But it’s been sitting here and… Mandy’s right. People have driven through here on their ATVs…  Mike looked down and pulled out a flashlight, playing the light over the ground. “See that?”

“What?” Mandy stared. “Oh right, the tire tracks in the dirt that just…”

“Stop where the yard starts.” Mike nodded. “Creepy.”

“The whole day has been creepy,” Mandy said.

“Yeah.” Mike nodded and walked up to the partially open  iron gate.

“Are we doing this?” Mandy asked, hefting her spotlight.

“Either that or go home,”  Mike said, putting the flashlight away and grabbing the book, opening it up to the map. Huh, seems pretty easy to hold it open like this…“This is where the ‘failing wards’ are, whatever that is.”

“Hopefully not a gateway to hell.” Mandy stared at the gate. “That thing is rusted as hell. How long has it been since anyone has been here?”

“All the plants are dead.” Mike gestured at the fence, with withered vines twining around the rusted metal. “So probably a while. I mean, even ignoring the part where it hasn’t been here.”

“Right. So…” Mandy looked up at the house. “Two story spooky house. Are we going to check it out?”

“Sure.” Mike pushed the gate aside, wincing at the shrieking sound from the rusted hinges. He walked in, looking around, and let Mandy follow him. “Take a picture, Mandy.” Mike gestured at the house. “Just so everyone knows we’re not crazy.”

“In the age of CGI, you think a picture is going to help?” Mandy shook her head. “But fine, I guess we could set up our own channel and… huh.”

“What?” Mike asked.

“No signal.” Mandy held the phone up. “None at all. Just like back at home. Wait a minute.” She turned and walked out of the yard, standing by the bike. “And here we have a signal.” She walked back to Mike. “And it’s gone. I mean, totally gone. No fading or anything. It’s like a switch.”

“Okay…” Mike looked around. “Take some pictures outside and geolocate them.”

“Yeah,” Mandy said. She walked out, held up her phone, took some pictures, then took some more of Mike standing in the front yard. “And that worked fine, so when we vanish, people will see you standing in front of the spooky house where…” She touched her phone. “Google shows no house actually being. Just an empty road.”

“So let’s go in,” Mike said. “See what is happening.”

“Right.” Mandy shook her head. “Hang on.” She walked to the bike and put the camera on the seat, camera facing the house. “Got  the velcro tape we used last week?”

“Sure, in the saddlebags.”

Mandy pulled the tape out and securied the phone, stepping back and nodding.

“There. If we vanish, our found footage will make my family rich.”

“Nice idea.”

“Come’s from being all sciency.”

“Sciency?”

“I didn’t say I was great at English.” Mandy grinned and shook her head. “Okay, let’s go in. I’ve got my raygun, you’ve got… your magic.”

“Or whatever it is.” Mike lifted the staff, noticing that it was once again glowing with a soft light. He stuck the book into a bag he’d taken from home, and left if dangling from his shoulder.

Walking through the yard, Mike shivered. The air felt… heavy. Oppressive. There were planters to each side of the walkway to the front door, full of dry, dead flowers. Mike reached out and touched one, shivering as it fell to dust.

“It rained just last week,” Mandy said. “But this place…”

“It’s not been here.” Mike stopped and looked around. “It’s been somewhere else.”

“Right.” Mandy gripped her spotlight. “How about we just knock on the door, peek in, and then call the cops.”

“And tell them what?”

“I dunno, something weird is up here? That we thought someone was pranking us? I mean, if they see the house, it’s not like we need to actually sayanything.”

“Yeah…” I do not want to go into that house. Mike nodded. “We can do that. Knock on the door, turn around, and leave.”

Mandy nodded. “Just watch out for trap doors into the crazed killer’s kitchen.”

“You’ve been watching too many bad movies.”

“Says the man holding a magic staff and book.”

Mike paused, then nodded. “Point.”

The steps were… Not concrete. Stone. Little stones in a metallic matrix that looked…

“Is that gold?” Mandy asked.

“I—maybe something like bronze?” Mike said. “Can’t be gold, I mean, it’d be worth a fortune, and would be too soft. Weird though, I wonder how they did it? Just put the stones in a mold and poured the metal into it?”

“Dunno,” Mandy said. “But no fog.” She patted the spotlight, the beam set to low, though it was still brighter than the bike’s headlight. “Let’s go.”

“Right.” Mike walked up the flight of stairs, noticing how part of the guardrail seemed to have rusted away. How long would that take, especially if it stays this dry all the time?He licked his lips nervously. The answer was a long, long time. Years, with people walking through here, never seeing this place.

The door was ornate, a mosaic of colored glass set into a frame of golden metal.

“Can’t see through it,” Mike said. “Good news. No welcome mat.”

“Why is that good news?”

“Because that’s where they hide the trap door?”

Mandy stared at Mike. “Good point.”

“Hello?” Mike called. He reached up and used the knocker, its sound oddly muffled. They waited.

Nothing. The place stayed silent. Mike dropped his hand down to the door knob and started to turn it.

“We open the door, call in, and then go call the cops,” Mike said.

“Sounds good.”

“Hello?” Mike called again. The doorknob was easy to turn, and he pulled the door open, Mandy shining the spotlight at them. “Look, Um, we don’t mean to trespass but—”

The door opened, and then they saw inside.

And both Mike and Mandy jumped back.

***** 

“Shit!” Mike shouted, staring down at the skeleton.

It was wearing what looked like a tattered dress, sprawled out on the faded carpet. One skeletal hand was still clawing at the base of the door, as if the woman had been trying to escape when… whatever it was had killed her.

Further back the room looked like… some old, rich house, long abandoned. There were vases full of dead, crumbling flowers, and a table with the remains of a meal for a single person. Further back, Mike could see a hallway leading into the rear of the structure, a stairway to the second floor right next to it.

“Right.” Mandy nodded. “Time to call the cops. Mike, take a picture with your phone.”

“Yeah.” Mike nodded. “Got that right.” He pulled out his phone and took a picture. “Now we—” Mike fell silent and turned around. He’d felt a whisper of chilly, damp air on his neck. “Oh. Shit. Mandy, look behind you.”

Mandy turned around and stared. The yard was getting foggy. Wisps of fog were rising from the planters, coiling around and getting denser by the moment.

Mandy didn’t hesitate. She turned on the spotlight, full power.

But this time, the fog didn’t vanish. It writhed and twisted as if it was in pain, but it didn’t vanish. And now, Mike heard the sound of howls in the distance.

But they were getting closer.

“I can’t see the bike,” Mike muttered.

“So we want to run out and—” The door slammed shut in their faces.

“What the hell!” Mandy shouted. “What the hell!"

Mike tried to pull the door open, but it was solidly locked.

“Back door?” Mike asked.

“Back door,” Mandy said. She kept the spotlight on full power, the bright beam bouncing off the metal and mirrors of the room, sending its harsh light everywhere.

Mike didn’t care. Even if it wasn’t working as well as it had, whatever was here didn’t like light. He raised the staff and noticed that even now, he could see its glow. They turned and headed down the hallway. Mike didn’t even bother to try the doors on either side, mainly because he didn’t want to open them and find another skeleton waiting for them.

“That wasn’t a fake skeleton,” Mandy said. “That was a dead body. Dead for a long time.”

“If nobody knew the house was here…” Mike shook his head. “But how? How is any of this happening?”

“We fell into a magic horror movie?” Mandy said, her wide eyes belying her sarcastic tone.

“Yeah, magic, but why here, and why now? We live in Southern California, Mandy. Stuff like this is supposed to happen in New England in some creepy little town where everyone smiles too much!”

“Yeah, well we have a TV show about the devil running a bar!” Mandy said. “So it’s possible.”

“Yeah, we—how big is this house?” Mike said. He stopped, staring at the hallway that still extended down further, curving out of sight to the right.

“Um…” Mandy looked back to see that the front room was now invisible beyond the curve. “Big?”

“Too big.” Mike looked around. “There’s something wei—”

“Oh, children, children, it has been so long…” The voice was barely a whisper, but Mike heard it clearly. It was coming from where they’d come from and it…

Mike shivered. It felt like a voice from the grave, the whisper dry and cracked.

“That…”

“Was coming from the front.” Mike nodded. “Yes.”

“Where the skeleton was.” Mandy licked her lips. “Well, I think it’s time we got out of this hallway.”

“I don’t think we can get out by running down it,” Mike said. He reached out and tried one of the doors. The doorknob was rusted, and it squeaked as Mike turned it, pressing against the door to force it open. “C’mon…” Mike muttered. The door slowly started to open.

“Children…” Now there was a leprous glow coming down the hallway as if someone was holding a lantern.

Mandy held the spotlight and turned it on, full blast. There was a hiss from where the voice had come from a hiss that soon turned into words. “Hateful little brats! Put that light away! It is time for bed!”

Then the door gave way and Mike pushed it open. “In!” he shouted. Mandy backed in as Mike checked the room.

It was a small room. A little bed, some debris on the floor, manacles on…

“Shit,” Mandy said as Mike pushed the door shut. “Are those…”

“Yeah. Someone didn’t want to stay here.” Then, under the door, he saw the leprous light grow in intensity. They heard tapping footsteps.

“Children, open the door and let me in. I have such tasty treats for you…”

Mike gagged. The scent wasn’t tasty—it was the smell of meat gone bad, rotting fruit… next to him, Mandy was choking.

“You saw me and opened the door…” whatever was outside their room said. With every word, the smell seemed to get worse.

“Saw it?” Mandy frowned. “The only thing we saw was a skeleton.”

“Yeah.” Mike nodded. “Watch the door.”

“We can’t just stay here! We don’t have any food or water.”

“I know, but the book was what led us here, so…”

“So you’re looking for a spell?” Mandy asked.

“Got any better ideas?”

“Open the door and try to use your staff to beat it to death?”

“Yeah, that depends on it not already being dead.” Mike frowned as he tossed the book onto the bed, opening it up and looking at the index. “And your raygun didn’t stop the fog, not this time. I think it’s more powerful here.”

“Children!” The cry was louder, and another blow hit the door, causing dust to fall from the ceiling.

“Hurry.” Mandy nodded and turned to face the door.

Mike looked down the index but… I’ve never cast a spell outside of an MMO in my life! There were words here, forms of magic, that supposedly would do something, but when he turned the page there were diagrams and ritual sayings and things that he didn’t even really understand. It’s like just opening a college chemistry book and hoping you’ll find the right formula.

“Wait a minute,” he said.

For will may serve in the place of wisdom… Another blow struck the door, and the wood started to splinter.

“Mike!” Mandy shouted, her eyes wide. “Hurry up!”

“I’m hurrying!” For with the right implement, one may channel will and thus make their will manifest…

Mike looked at the staff. Implement, or a tool. Like a staff.And he’d used it. Maybe it hadn’t been anything integral to the staff, just Mike really wanting to not die.

Mike reached out and grabbed the staff, and it flared to life.

“Children! Must I punish you? I have candies and toys for you to play with!” And with that the door flew into pieces and…

“Shit!” Mandy shrieked and lifted up the spotlight. Mike heard the cooling fans go off, even as the light, so bright it dazzled his eyes, struck the thing that was on the other side of the door.

It was the skeleton they’d seen, still wearing its tattered clothes. Only now, its eyesockets were filled with a greenish fire, somehow visible even over the spotlight. There were spiders running in and out the bits of hair that were still sticking to the skull, while it seemed like parts of its flesh were coming back, roiling with transparent maggots before they vanished, only to reappear somewhere else.

“Naughty little girl!” It said. “Your toy light cannot harm me, not here, not when I am in the flesh. Put it down, that I can hug you and make your fear go away.”

“Not happening…” Mandy whispered.

“And you’re not coming in, not that fast,” Mike said. Staring at the skeleton, he could see that not only was some of the… flesh vanishing in the beam, but the clothing was being pressed back, like the light had some kind of physical force. “Mandy, keep the light on, um, her.”

“How long will that toy last, children?” It reached out for them, but the spectral, rotted flesh on the hand seemed to boil away, and it yanked it back with a hiss.

“Dunno,” Mike replied. He licked his lips. I probably need to keep control. Pissing myself in front of the monster isn’t a good idea. “But we’re not children.”

“Damn right!” Mandy said. “I turned eighteen last month!”

“Oh but you are, I can feel you, so untouched, so full of life… like the others who came here, before I was…”

“Was what?” Mike asked.

“Cast away!” it hissed. “The skies darkened and my house was cut off until there was naught but darkness… I needed them… I needed your lovely flesh, your young voices, your… Life!” It surged forward again. Closer now.

“Mandy, is the spotlight running down?”

“Um…no.” Mandy shook her head. “It’s got at least ten more minutes before I have to switch out.”

“Then why is it getting dimmer?”

“Oh, dear children, my house has been dark for so long and it loves the light you’re feeding it.”

“Right.” I hope this works. Mike hefted the staff, and the tip started to glow. The skeleton giggled, a rasping horrible sound. “You don’t even know how to use that!”

“Guess what. I don’t have to.” Mike charged forward, Mandy’s surprised shriek echoing in his ears. He tried to focus all of his anger and terror on the idea of beating that skeleton until it was just dust.The tip flared, the light momentarily brighter than the spotlight.

The skeleton shrieked in fury, as Mike punched the tip of the staff into it, impaling it, as argent fire ran up and down its body.

“Dog!” it screamed, one hand gripping the staff, and then it pulled it out and threw Mike out of the room and into the hallway. He hit the other wall, his teeth rattling from the impact, the staff flying away out of his reach. And then the creature had Mike by his shirt, raising him up and pushing him into the wall. The hand was so cold it was burning him.

Mandy was screaming as she ran up to the beast and slammed the tip of the spotlight into the monsters back. It shrieked in fury and Mike looked down to see the dress, the flesh, everything but the bones just vanish. Then it dropped Mike and spun around, lashing out of Mandy. Mandy dodged back, but the blow caught her on the side, and sent her spinning away, the spotlight bouncing off the wall and going dark.

“Yess…” it said, advancing on Mandy. “Your toy is broken, naughty little girl…”

Mike turned and saw the staff laying on the floor, still glowing. He dove for it.

“WAIT!”

Mike ignored the shriek behind him, ducking and just barely avoiding the monster’s outstretched hands. Then he reached out and grabbed the staff.

And it flared to light, brighter than anything Mike had seen before, only this time it wasn’t hurting his eyes. He spun around to see Mandy on the ground, shielding her eyes, and the monstrosity that had been about to grab him reeling back, spectral flesh boiling away, even as its bones started to char and smoke.

Mike roared, thinking about how this thinghad tried to hurt Mandy. The tip of the staff punched into its chest and then the creature was just screaming in agony, light emerging from every body part.

Light and fire. The smell of rot and decay was banished by the smoke as the being, now fully engulfed in fire, pulled itself away from Mike, staggering down the corridor.

“No! No! It has been so long! No, you—” The voice faded into a long, drawn out shriek that seemed fade into the distance, and then the body fell to the side, no longer moving, but still burning.

And then there was… a snapping sensation. The hallway changed. Mike looked back and saw the back door, then looked to the front of the house and saw the entry to the front room, only a few dozen feet away.

“Mandy!” Mike ran to Mandy. “Are you okay?”

“I… Yeah.” Mandy shook her head. “But um, I think we should run. Now.”

Mike followed her gaze. The corpse was still burning.

So was the wall. And now flames were running across the ceiling, swiftly spreading across the ancient wood and wallpaper.

“Shit!” Mike got up, hauling Mandy to her feet. “Go!”

“Gotta get my raygun!” she said, running over to the spotlight. Mike grabbed the staff and ran to the room where the book was still laying on the table, glowing softly. He scooped it up and turned around, and holy hell, the fire had doubled in size, smoke filling the corridor up.

“C’mon!” Mike shouted. “Get to the front!”

“It’s further away!” Mandy said, then started coughing.

“What if the back’s locked?” Mike said. If it was locked, there’d be no way they’d make it back to the front before the fire trapped them.

The run only took a few minutes, but it was a nightmare. Mike tripped over a box of something or other, and the smoke was filling up the place, until he and Mandy were crawling on their hands and knees. The spotlight didn’t work and there wasn’t any time to pull out a flashlight, so the only light they had was Mike’s staff.

When they got to the front door, Mike’s heart almost stopped—it was closed. He reached up, his hand vanishing into the smoke, and found the doorknob. Please don’t be locked. Mike turned the knob, and it turned, the door opening, blessedly cool air flowing into the room.

“Hurry!” Mike said, getting up and staggering away. The fog was gone, no sign of anything nasty in the yard, and he and Mandy ran as fast as they could to the bike, Mandy grabbing her phone as she passed it.

Only then did they turn around.

The second-story windows were glowing red, flames licking out of some open windows, smoke pouring from the holes in the roof. There was a crashing sound from inside the house.

“How did it…” Mandy shivered and put her arm around Mike’s arm. “If we’d been just a little slower…”

“Yeah,” Mike said. Wincing at the pain in his chest where the thing had hit him. Crazy woman, undead monster, alien… who the hell knows. “Let’s get back home. Fast.”

“I don’t think she’s going to chase us.”

“Yeah, but you know, two 18-year-olds with no good reason to be out here and a burning house that just appeared…”

“Good point. Arson and sorcery doesn’t look good on my application.”

“I thought you were accepted.”

“Don’t want to give them a reason to unaccept me.” Mandy glanced at Mike. “How do you feel? That horror movie reject grabbed you.”

“Felt cold—but it’s getting better. What about you?”

“It hurt more when I fell down the stairs in eighth grade.” Mandy licked her lips. “But you know, getting away from here is a good idea. Do you think it was… behind the fog?”

“The fog’s gone now, so maybe?” Mike said. They both started at a loud crash as part of the house's roof fell in. Mike stared at it for a moment. “But let’s get going.”

“Sure.” Mandy grabbed her helmet and put it on. “And if we see a gingerbread house on the way home…”

“We don’t stop,” Mike said.

“Damn right.”

With that, Mike started the engine and spun around, heading back down the way they came. The house was now almost fully engulfed, thick smoke rising into the moonlit sky.

***** 

By the time they got to the main road, Mike saw the first fire trucks in the distance. He cut off down a side road, so that when they whipped by, the two teens were out of sight.

“I’ll drop you off at home,” Mike told Mandy, as he pulled to the side. They could see the flashing lights of the firetrucks moving up where they’d come from. “That way you can get cleaned up and let anyone know that we just spent the evening at my house.”

“Where we necked until I decided to go home.” Mandy tightened her grip around Mike’s waist. “You know, normal stuff.  Mom and Dad are both asleep by now, so I can also, you know, wash the smoke out of my clothes.”

“Yeah,” Mike said. “Keep the raygun.”

Mandy giggled. “Sure.” She pulled it out and fiddled with it. “Good. It feels like… yeah.” She pressed the power pack in and moments later, a bar of white light was shooting up into the sky. Mandy turned it off with a satisfied sound. “I guess Ms. Skeleton knocked the power pack loose. But now I have my raygun and let the monsters beware.”

“Sure,” Mike said. “Ready?”

“Yeah. No sign of fog. That’s a good sign.”

“It is.” Mike nodded.

Once they stopped at Mandy’s house they pulled their helmets off and stared up at the dark structure.

“Good,” Mandy said. Everyone’s asleep.”

Mike nodded. “You get to sleep, we’ll talk at work tomorrow.”

“Sure,” Mandy said, leaning in for a kiss. It went on for a while, then, they came up for air. “Be careful.”

“I will. Love you, Mandy.”

“And love you too, oh Mighty Wizard.” Mike snorted and waved. He waited until Mandy was in the house. He took a deep breath and started the bike.

Time to go home and get some sleep. I can figure out what’s going on tomorrow.