Living Magic and Dead Mages: Chapter 4

When they walked into the house, Mike felt like some extra in a sci-fantasy movie, holding up the staff while Mandy held the spotlight out like a raygun, ready to turn it on at the slightest sign of mist.

But there was nothing. Not only that, the house lights were on at full power, as if there had never been an outage. Biting his lip, Mike walked to the cat tree, standing up as high as he could to look into the top.

The three cats were still alive, although…

They weren’t moving, just breathing fast, an occasional timid meow emerging from the huddle.

“Right. I don’t have to explain to the parents why the cats were eaten,” Mike said.

“Good.” Mandy looked around. “So no fog, no sign that anything showed up, and the front…” she gestured out the window where the moon illuminated a street and neighborhood completely lacking in any spooky fog banks. The street lights were blazing down, and Mike could hear the sound of dogs barking at something or other. A bit further away, he heard the deep tone of a truck’s horn.

Normal sounds.

“Right. Let’s get something to eat.”

“Oh! Oh!” Mandy gestured with her raygun. “Steaks!”

“Are you going to help?”

“I have to protect you,” Mandy replied. She came to attention. “Nothing will get to you while you’re making steak.”

“And after?”

“Eh, depends on how good the steaks are.”

Mike stared at his girlfriend. “You’re really that calm?”

Mandy shook her head. “No, I’m totally freaked out, but it’s either this or start crying, and I hate crying.”

“Okay, but plug the spotlight into the outlet,” Mike said. He gestured at the handle. “There’s a cord in there, and it can charge the pack from AC current.”

“Right, wouldn’t want our defense to run out.”

“And the staff?” Mike asked.

“The one you have no idea how to use?” Mandy said. “I’ll stick with technology.”

“Yeah,” Mike replied.

It didn’t take long for him to get the steaks ready, the two cuts sizzling on the skillet. Mike put Mom’s special sauce on them as he finished cooking and then put one steaming plate in front of Mandy. “So, can you surrender your vigilance, or do you want me to eat it for you?”

“Nope, I’m fine,” Mandy said. “And I haven’t seen a single bit of fog.” She nodded at the window. “Whatever it was must have called it in for the night.”

“Right,” Mike said and sat down by Mandy. Damn, I’m hungry.“Here’s some cola.”

The two ate. Normally Mandy didn’t like soda, but she didn’t seem to care right now. Mike kept eating, keeping one eye on the window.

In the living room, the cats had come out of their bundle and were walking around, sniffing, tails stiff.

I guess if they’re not hiding, we don’t have to worry about anything coming back right now. Course, that doesn’t mean it won’t show up later.

“Okay,” Mandy said. “We beat the killer fog. What do we do now?”

“I…” Mike looked over to the staff, which was still glowing, at least from the crystal. “I don’t know. The thing is, what if the fog comes back?”

“I’ve got my raygun,” Mandy said.

“Yeah, that’s six-hundred dollars worth of spotlight.” Mike shrugged. “Dad’s going to want to know where it’s vanished to.”

“That’s what online shopping is for,” Mandy said. “I’ve got enough in savings.” Then she glanced back. “But what if it follows us to our schools…”

“Follows me, you mean,” Mike said. “I was the one who got the magic bling.”

“Yeah. Or maybe you got it because something is happening here. I—” Mandy paled. “Hang on!” she pulled out her cell phone and flicked her finger over the address book. “C’mon…answer—Jessica!” Mandy sighed. “Are you okay? No, I’m not being weird. But, um… Could you look out your window? Why? Just do it! Is there any fog out there? No, I’m not drunk!” Mandy listened for a moment, then put the phone back. “She hung up on me. She was talking to her boyfriend.” Mandy put her finger to her mouth and pretended to gag. “I cannot believe she likes him.”

“Neither can your parents,” Mike said. “No fog?”

“None.” Mandy bit her lip. “But there wasn’t any here until there was…”

“Yeah.” Mike frowned. “What the hell was it?”

“Magic?” Mandy said.

“Really?” Mike rolled his eyes. “You’re the person going into biology.”

“Sure. And that wasn’t anything biological. I mean, sure, it could be some super science-fiction lifeform from the planet Glorbag, but hey, you were given a book and a staff that looks magic, and did magic stuff, and we almost got eaten by flying ghost dog things. Therefore, Magic!” Mandy speared the last bit of her steak and put it in her mouth.

“Magic.” Mike got up and walked over to the book, still sitting where they’d dropped it. “Okay, magical book, I summon your wisdom—”

And that was when the book started glowing. Mandy swallowed. Stared at the book, her eyes as wide as Mike’s.

“So,” Mike said. “Magic.”

“Yeah, seems like it…”

*****

Mike gingerly approached the book. Next to him, Mandy was staring at the glowing object.

It’s not like an LED.It wasn’t just glowing, the surrounding air seemed to be glowing, looking more like an aura or one of those plasma globes than a simple light.

“Old guy gave this to you, just like the staff, right?”

“Yeah.”

Mandy nodded. “Then I guess it’s… okay? The staff protected us, so I don’t think the old guy had it in for you.”

“I…” Mike nodded and touched the book before he could lose his nerve. The light just seemed to flow up his fingers. Mike pulled his hand away, and it glowed for a moment, his fingers haloed in light just like the book. “It feels… It’s tingling.”

“Did the staff do that?” Mandy asked.

“I was sort of thinking about other things,” Mike said. “But I don’t think so.” He reached down and touched the book again. “But it doesn’t feel bad.”

“At least until you melt,” Mandy muttered. “So what’s in it?”

Mike shook his head. “It was locked, remember?” On the other hand, it wasn’t glowing back then…He tugged at the clasp. With a click, it opened up, and Mike opened the book.

Moments later, a clear, white light filled the room. Mike and Mandy flinched back.

“Okay,” Mandy said. “Nice to know that you could use it as a lantern.”

“Yeah.” Mike squinted as he stared at the pages. “But it’s getting dimmer.” The glare was fading and now the book was displaying characters, the lines glowing with a soft, white light.

But they weren’t English. They weren’t anything Mike recognized.

“So, um…” he gestured at the book. “Look familiar?”

“Nah, I decided to go for a PE elective instead of mysterious glowing languages.” Mandy folded her arms. “It’s a magic book, Mike. How would I know?”

“Okay,” Mike said. “It… Doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen.”

“Right,” Mandy said. “It’s all curves, no right angles.”

“Yeah, I—” Mike touched one of the lines and it flared up. Mike pulled his hand back, but suddenly…

To call forth a spirit of light, you must complete the summoning circle upon a solid foundation and…

“It turned into English,” Mike said.

“What?” Mandy leaned down. “No, it didn’t.”

Mike glanced at her, then back down to the page. The language was still English.

“Look at it again.”

“Nope, nothing.” Mandy frowned. “Why, can you read it?”

“Yeah. It’s English. Don’t really understand what it’s talking about, but it’s English, bigger than hell.” Mike pulled his finger away, and a few moments later, the lettering swirled and returned to its old form. “And you didn’t see anything?”

“It glowed a little brighter for a second, but no.” Mandy glanced up at Mike. “So, um, is an owl with a letter going to come crashing through your window?”

“I—” Mike stared at Mandy. “You’re taking this really calmly.”

“It’s either be calm, or go into the guest room, get under the bed, and curl up and pretend the world isn’t there.” Mandy shook her head. “Calm seems more productive.”

“Yeah.” Mike put his hand back on the book. “Okay, stuff here about rituals, magic… Great, I’m a mage. I think. Unless this is a joke. Which I don’t think it is.”

“So, can you do any spells?” Mandy asked.

“Um… this sort of reads more like a chemistry textbook than it does an RPG spell book,” Mike said. “You’re certain you can’t read it?”

“Yep. It’s not even Greek to me.” Mandy frowned. “Can you find an index?”

“There’s…”  Mike flipped the pages. “Huh. Here’s an index. But I just flipped the page, and it’s not where an index should be.”

Because why would you put an index twenty pages in? Mike stared at it for a moment, then saw something else. “There aren’t any page numbers on the index.”

“That sort of defeats the purpose.” Mandy looked up at Mike. “Doesn’t it?”

“Maybe…” Mike touched an entry, talking about creating fire, and then opened the book at random.

“Elemental sorceries.” Holy shit. The book knows what I’m looking for and no matter what page I open, it’s there.“Index,” Mike said, and when he opened another page, the index was there.

“Okay, someone made a tablet in the form of a book.” Mandy shook her head. “A magic book.”

“Yeah, I…” Mike paused. “Why is this pulsing?” He pointed to an entry. “Let’s see… Fading Wards?” Mike touched it and turned the page.

“The hell?” Mandy muttered. “I can’t read it, but that’s a map.”

“Yeah. Of our town… this is…” Mike paused. “Okay, this makes no sense. The guy who gave this to me hadn’t been here for a while, or at least he said. But Milo’s Vintage DVDs? That place opened last week.”

“It’s a magic book, and you’re wondering how it updates?” Mandy raised her eyebrows. “What about the ‘fading wards’ thing?”

Mike stared at the map, lightly touching a leprous green spot on the paper. “There.”

“I can’t read the street signs but that looks like—”

“Eagle Road.” Mike nodded. “And the blob is at the end of Eagle Road.”

“Where that nonexistent house was.” Mandy frowned. “Okay, getting the feeling that this was sort of, um, trappy? I mean, you get the book and staff, we get attacked, Isave the day, and then this book opens up and tells us where we need to go.”

“Flipside,” Mike said. “Maybe that’s the reason those things are coming out.”

“One of the old meanings for wards was a barrier… So, what, we run into a guy with a big golden exclamation point on top of his head?” Mandy shook her head. “You’re thinking of going up there, and we have no idea—”

“Which is why I want to go up there.” Mike gestured at the night. “They’re gone now. What if they come back? What if that fog comes back when your kid sister is out with her boyfriend walking home? Or when our parents are?”  Mike folded his arms. “Or are we going to tell them, ‘hey, watch out for the ghost monsters in the fog.’”

“Okay, yeah that wouldn’t be a good look,” Mandy said. “So what do we do?”

“Go there.” Mike gestured to the staff. “If something’s there I can smack it on the head and you…”

“Can zap it with my new raygun.” Mandy patted the spotlight. “By the way, I’m keeping this. You can get your dad a replacement, but I’m keeping this one.”

“Fine,” Mike said. “You ready? We’ll take the motorcycle.”

“Right.” Mandy grinned. “Also, if we die, I’m haunting you.”

“I don’t think a ghost can haunt another ghost,” Mike said.

“I’ll find a way.”

****** 

Mike had a car, but the bike was a lot more maneuverable, especially if he had to take it off-road.

And I’m not going to risk getting trapped on a road. The fact that the car had an enclosed compartment didn’t mean much—it wasn’t airtight and if the fog had gotten in the house, it could get into a car’s passenger compartment.

Mandy grabbed the helmet she kept at his house for excursions and stuck it on her head, the bright pink paint and cat ears reflecting the light from the garage. Mike finished fastening his helmet and swung onto the cycle, after sticking the staff and book in the saddlebags along with a couple of normal flashlights. Mandy got on behind him and put her arms around Mike, her spotlight slung over one shoulder, along with a bag holding spare power packs.

“So!” Mandy said. “Let us go to defeat the evil whatever-the-hell-they-weres that disrupted our time together!”

“Right,” Mike said. He started the bike and pulled out onto the driveway, heading to the road below.

Let’s find out what is going on.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, the moon shining above them, with the dim lights of their neighborhood contrasting with the bright lights of downtown. There were still people there, Mike thought. Clubbing, shopping—hell, some of his and Mandy’s friends were probably spending time wandering around or eating out on a date.

He had a sudden, uncomfortable vision of the entire town under a shroud of unnatural fog, howls and screams rising from it. Mike shook his head and focused on the road.

It wouldn’t help them if he managed to ram into a tree doing fifty because he wasn’t paying attention.

They only passed a few cars as they headed out to Eagle Road.

Not much around here,Mike thought. Eagle Road was the only decent road that led up into the foothills, with the rest of the roads in this part of town being full of potholes. It made sense, there was nothing out there, just the remains of a single old development that had been abandoned in the 1970s.

That was why it was so strange that Eagle Road wasstill in good shape.

And speaking of Eagle Road… Mike pulled over to the side at the intersection. “Here we are.”

“And no fog,” Mandy said.

“Yeah.” Mike looked around. No fog, no monsters, no nothing, just the road curving up around the small hill. “We’ll ride to the end of it and see what we can see. Okay?”

“Right,” Mandy said. “Let’s go.”

Mike nodded and turned onto the road. There’s nothing here. No car tracks no people, no monsters.

Maybe it had been a prank. The monsters hadn’t actually physically harmed Mike or Mandy. But that’d cost a ton of money so it still didn’t make any sense.

And then they came around the curve of the hill and Mike hit the brakes.

“Mike, what the h—” Mandy fell silent staring at the house at the end of the road.

It was a big house, big front yard, even though it didn’t seem to have a garage or driveway. It looked… ancient. There were gaps in the roof and the open windows were dark, the moonlight making them look like the empty eye sockets of the long dead.

“So…” Mandy whispered. “Just to make certain we’re both on the same page. I’m seeing a house here. Are you seeing a house here?”

“Yeah.”

“And there hasn’t ever been a house here.”

“Nope.”

“Okay.” Mandy pressed up against Mike’s back. “Are you are creeped out as I am?”

“Yeah.” Mike said. There wasn’t much else to say.