Living Magic and Dead Mages: Chatper 3

Home was only a mile or so away. A nice walk in the day time. There was also a little park on the way where Mike and Mandy could have some private time…

But now everything was dark. The street lights were fading, and it seemed like every house on the street was locked up tight.

“Maybe we could hop a fence and run to one of the neighbors,” Mandy said.

“Do you really want to run into some angry dogs?” Mike asked.

“If they’re flesh and blood? Sure,” Mandy replied. Then she glanced over at the houses. “But notice that?”

“What?”

“No dogs. Nothing’s barking. Not even that annoying husky the Simpsons have.” She paused. “Think these things are scaring them?”

“That or they got eaten,” Mike said. He looked behind them, and now the fog following along was almost ten feet high, a solid gray mass that kept advancing on the two teens.

If you ate them, I hope you just stopped with the dogs.

“Let’s hurry,” Mike said. They weren’t running, not quite, but the last thing they needed was to trip on the way to their home.

“Mike, that fog, it’s following us. What if it wants us to go to your home?”

“Can we go anywhere else? We’ve got a landline at home. We can call…”

“A priest to exorcise our fog?”

“I’m good with that.” Mike glanced behind. “And we’d better hurry.”

Mandy followed his gaze. “Oh. Shit. Run!”

Mike had to agree. Because it looked like the fog was through waiting for them, as it rolled forward like a tidal wave. He and Mandy started running as fast as they could, the sound of their steps loud in the silence. There were no dogs howling, no owls hooting. Just the sound of their footsteps. Even the monsters that had come in the fog were silent now.

Waiting.

*****

Mike’s house was on top of a small hill, a short driveway leading from the street. By the time they turned to run up the driveway, Mandy was panting and Mike wasn’t much better.

It’s not like I’m a track star, he thought. But, they had to keep running. For a moment, Mike wondered if there was a chance that the fog would just stay at the bottom of the hill. That had happened a few times in winter, their home isolated with everything below it shrouded in white.

Not this time. The fog was just rolling up the driveway behind them. Really really fast. They hit the front door and Mike fumbled with the key for a second before he got the door opened.

Fortunately, none of the cats decided to try to make a run for it. In fact…

Where are they?He shook his head and pulled Mandy in after him, closing the door and locking it.

“Wow,” Mandy said. “They’re freaked.”

Mike followed her gaze to the cat-tree Mom had set up to keep the furniture from being used as a scratching post. The cats were on top, staring at the windows with huge eyes, fur puffed out.

They weren’t even yowling, just letting out a terrified moan now and then.

“Okay,” Mike said. “First, we call for some help.” He picked up the handset and held it to his ear.

Nothing.

“The hell?” Mike muttered. “It’s a land line.” He put the handset back down and pulled out his phone.

No connection.

“Mandy?”

“No joy,” Mandy said. “But I—” The lights in the house flared up and then died. One of the cats let out a terrified squall, but didn’t move from its refuge.

“The power went out?” Mandy asked, frantically flipping the light switch. “Now?”

“No,” Mike said as the emergency LEDs that Mom had installed in case of earthquake came on, bathing the living room in their dim light. “Something turned the power off.” He gestured and Mandy followed his gesture.

Outside the window, beyond the fog that was rising up against the glass, they could both see other houses.

And their lights were on. Which means nobody is going to be calling the power company. Nobody is going to be going outside to check their fusebox.

Nobody is going to see us.And then the fog rose up and over the windows, blocking out the rest of the world.

“Where are your flashlights?” Mandy asked. “Your parents are paranoid about disasters, so they have to have some.”

Mike nodded. “Service porch!” he said. “I—go!” The fog was seeping into the house, flowing in around the door and windows, the little streamers forming into larger masses, pouring onto the floor and starting to rise up.

One of the cats was leaping up, trying to get a purchase on the ceiling. Mike could sympathize. The sweet, rotting scent was filling his nose and he could hear Mandy gagging as they headed to the kitchen.

“They freaked when you used the staff.” Mandy ran to the service porch and started looking for the flashlights. Mike pointed, and she grabbed one of the big metal flashlights. “Can you use it again?”

“It didn’t work for me out there.” He said.

“Maybe it needs… I dunno, will power?”

“Really.”

“We’re being chased by shadow-fog monsters.” Mandy stared at David with flat look. “So yeah, I’m being serious. It’s also lighter for you.”

“Right, I—”

“MIKE!” Mike spun around, swinging the staff out by reflex, just in time to catch one of the monsters. The staff tore it apart, but like last time, it just reformed, flowing back into the living room. Mike looked behind it and saw the hallway, nearly lost in the fog—with half a dozen pairs of glowing eyes in it.

“DIE, THINGS OF DARKNESS!” Mandy shouted as she raised the big, 1,000 lumen flashlight that she’d found. The blazing beam shot through the fog, and there were howls of fury…

But the fog didn’t go away, not entirely. The eyes blazed brighter and then the fog was rising up, billowing twice as thick as it had been.

“It’s hurting them, but not killing them,” Mike stared at the light. “We need a brighter light.”

“Brighter?” Mandy stared at Mike. “This is bright enough to blind me! What’s brighter than that?”

“You know how Dad volunteers for rescue work?”

“Yeah?” Mandy asked.

“He was talking about his new rescue light. It’s a hundred times as bright as that one.”

Mandy looked down at the flashlight. “Cool, but where is it?”

“In the garage.” Mike said.

“The garage we have to go outside to get to.”

“Yah.”

“Great,” Mandy muttered. “You certain you can’t figure out how to use that thing?”

Mike shook his head. “I can try, but I think Dad’s big-ass spotlight  is our best bet.”

“Okay.” Mandy started backing up, keeping the light playing on the hallway and foyer. They could both hear the growling and howling, now joined with what sounded like scratching at the windows.

Mike glanced at one window and found himself staring at a pair of glowing red eyes. He couldn’t see anything else, just the red eyes.

Right, after this, I’m buying a billion LED flashlights and lanterns and just stacking them around my room.

“I’ll open the door,” Mike said. “You keep anything off of our back.”

“Right.” Mandy nodded as they backed up to the service porch. The door to the garage was just ten feet away, but Mike couldn’t see a thing beyond the window. A quick glance showed that the fog was nearly waist high in the living room, rolling into the kitchen, flinching back from the beam of light as Mandy played it over the dark mass.

I hope the cats are okay,Mike thought. Then he was pulling the door open, staff held in his other hand.

And then there was something that looked like a shadowy bearrising up, eyes blazing, as it brought one great paw down on him. Mike didn't hesitate, just stabbing up with the staff.

And just like on the road, the crystal blazed with a pure, white light, the bear-thing roaring in fury as it was just tornapart. The fog pulled back for a moment, leaving the way to the garage clear.

“Go!” Mike shouted. Mandy ran, waving her own flashlight around wildly. Where it hit the walls of fog that were rising up around the yard, they flinched back, just a little. But not much, and Mike could hear howls from inside the house.

If you would fucking work more than once or twice… Mike glared at the staff as he ran.

Mandy was at the door to the garage, fumbling with the doorknob.

“It’s locked!” she shouted.

“Out of the way!” Mike said, and kicked it as hard as he could. Pain shot up his leg, as the door shuddered… and then the lock gave way. “The far shelves, get it!”

Dad’s rescue gear was always set up and ready to go. You never knew when someone might trip over a ravine, or decide to go hunting out by themselves. Mandy was unzipping the bags, looking around. “Hey! Found it!” Mandy pulled out the big, bulky spotlight. “Mike, get out of the way!”

Mike ducked away from the door where… things, no longer looking like dogs or bears, but things were clustering. He couldn’t see the house anymore.

“EAT LIGHT!” Mandy screamed and turned on the spotlight.

*****

Dad liked bright spotlights. He’d mentioned that there was nothing easier to bring the rest of a rescue team to you then a bar of light shining up into the sky.

And this new spotlight was his baby, complete with warnings that if you left it face down and turned on, it would set the place on fire.

When Mandy hit the switch, she blinked in surprise as the thing started whining.

“Is it going to blow up?”

“That’s just the cooling fan!” Mike shouted.

“The wh—” Mandy shrieked as a barof white light just seemed to blast from the spotlight’s lens. Even focused, it still turned the interior of the garage nearly bright as day from the scatter off the dust in the air, and when it hit the creatures…

It blasted a hole right through them. They howled, the sounds unnatural as they writhed and pulled back, trying to flee into the fog.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” Mandy shouted, and then, screaming like a banshee, charged into the yard after them, waving the light around. Wherever the light went, the fog was torn to shreds, half-formed monsters vanishing underneath its glare. Shrieking calls rose up around them, as Mike followed Mandy into the yard. She was flashing the light here, there and everywhere, and the fog was backing off.

But she couldn’t put it everywhere. Mike stepped up behind her just as something reared up and poured down at her, the only clear features its glowing reddish eyes. Mike smacked with the staff and then stabbed it, and once again, the crystal flared.

Only this time, it didn’t flash up and vanish. The entire staff started to glow, feeling lighter in Mike’s hands, as the monster twisted, screamed and vanished.

“Yeah!” Mike shouted and started swinging the staff around. Mandy was advancing on the house, clearing the fog as she used the light like a fire hose, playing it over any place where the fog might try to hide.

“Keep going,” Mike said.

“Yeah, I—” Mandy blinked. “Look at the fog!”

Mike  nodded. The fog was… for want of a better word, fleeing. It was rising up over the house, blowing away like there was a strong wind, instead of the air being so still that the leaves and grass were absolutely still.

“C’mon!” Mike said. He ran, Mandy with him, her light still blazing away. They got to the front and Mike pointed. “There, it’s leaving—hit it!”

“Got that right,” Mandy muttered and directed the powerful beam on the billowing mass of fog. Some of it vanished, but the rest just swept on down the road and out of sight.

Mandy touched the button and the light flashed out. “This can’t have a lot of battery time.” She muttered.

“Dad says it lasts up to an hour, and there are other packs in the garage.”

And your gadget?” Mandy asked.

Mike held up the staff. The crystal was glowing a white light seeming to collect around it like vapor, before it ran down the shaft.

“Do you feel that?” Mandy asked, gesturing at where Mike’s hand was partially covered by the light.

“No.” Mike leaned the staff against the side of the house and pulled his hand way. The glow around his fingers remained for a moment, then faded. “Nothing, I don’t feel any different.” Too bad. It’d be nice if I could shoot rays from my eyes.

“So what do we do?” Mindy asked.

“Go back in and find out if whatever the hell that was ate the cats.”

“Right.” Mandy nodded. “And after that?”

“Figure out what tried to eat us.” And what it might do to Mom and Dad, because I’m sure not leaving until I know this place is safe.

“Also,” Mandy said. “Let’s eat. Unleashing blazing hell on my enemies makes me hungry.”