Magic Born (15 page)

T
he pizza
at the food court of the mall tasted like cardboard that had accidentally been dropped into some sauce and cheese and then shaken off and served up on a plate. Bland, inoffensive music played, annoying precisely for its plainness. Across from me, Alex surveyed the scene, his eyes darting from face to face as people passed. He’d chosen this table in the corner which gave him a clear view of the rest of the food court without the possibility of anyone coming up behind him.

This wouldn’t have been my first choice for a late lunch, but the mall had everything we needed: an electronics store for the new laptop I had out in front of me and the phone I’d already put in my pocket and plenty of clothing stores for me to grab a few outfits. My old phone was smashed in a trash can outside. The one saving grace of the food court was the free Wi-Fi.

The new laptop was the most basic model the store had. Practicing magic indoors was too great a risk, so Alex and I had decided that we would go to a remote area outdoors where I could practice while he patrolled the perimeter, alert to threats. That meant that I needed to download the spells I would be practicing.

Nerves caused my mind to blank. The game was full of interesting spells, many of which I knew would come in handy, but I couldn’t recall any of them. My mind remained keenly aware of each passing minute that Marcus could be drawing closer. My thoughts wandered to the smashed phone in the trash can. Was there a way for him to track it there? I’d feel a little better once we were moving again.

There were dozens of fan sites to choose from, but I’d have to explore them all later. I chose The Codex, one of the sites I frequented with GreyMist. I created an account with a new email address and looked up my character profile. Players could publicly display information about their characters, and the site pulled in information from the game to display stats and quest history.

Seeing Serafina in her familiar armor was like seeing an old friend. The title “Hades Killer” floated above her head. A mixture of pride and remorse filled me. I had been so proud of my accomplishment, but I knew now that it hadn’t been real. At the same time, even though I was in a bad situation, that quest had also opened up my destiny to me. I didn’t know how to feel about it, and instead of dwelling on it, I clicked on my quest history.

Page one of eighty-seven loaded: years of quest history, chronicling my time in-game. As I scanned the list, I couldn’t help the memories flooding in of sitting in front of my computer, chatting with GreyMist as I worked on progressing in the game. It was odd how with each quest I could remember what we’d talked about. During
Feeding the Troll King’s Champion
, GreyMist had been telling me about the loser she was dating at the time. And while I ground through
Infiltrating the Troll King’s Guard
, she’d regaled me with the story of how she’d dumped him—the loser, not the Troll King. In fact, the long Troll King quest line could be a good source of material for me. I clicked on the quests and copy and pasted the text to a word processor. I didn’t have time to reminisce.

“Remember, we can stop somewhere else if you need to get more. Just grab enough material for you to study until then.”

“All right, let’s go.”

I finished copying over the quest line as well as the standard spells Serafina used and put the laptop away in the carrying case I’d bought for it. Alex grabbed the shopping bag with my new clothes in it, and we went to the car.

As I drove farther west, Alex read the quests to me from my laptop, and I had him flag the ones I’d want to take a look at when we stopped. Driving through Idaho, it wasn’t difficult to find places out in the middle of nowhere. Most of the state was either desert or ski resorts with little towns sprinkled about here and there. The trick was to find a place that would be hard for us to be seen, and that meant getting far away from the freeway. The flat landscape resulted in good line of sight, which was bad for us. We also had to avoid grazing land, of which there was plenty. The last thing we needed was a run-in with an upset rancher, even if the chances of being caught were slim. And while I enjoyed beef, I didn’t want to inadvertently kill a cow.

An hour after leaving the mall, I parked off to the side of an old dirt road that looked like it hadn’t been used in ages. “All right, hand me the laptop. I want you to give me plenty of space. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

Alex handed over the laptop and got out of the car. “I’ll be patrolling. If you hear me growl, I want you to stop what you’re doing and come back to the car. I really don’t think Marcus will find us here, but if he does, I don’t know how much of a match I’ll be for him, so you might want to practice that spell that makes fire rain from the sky. Just an idea.”

I smiled. “Noted. I’ll practice for four hours, then we’ll meet back here.”

“Sounds good.” Before my eyes, Alex shifted into his panther form. I’d never get tired of seeing it. He ran north to start creating a perimeter, and I headed about a hundred meters east to give me some room to work with. Not only would it break my heart to damage my car, but it would make this whole plan a lot more difficult logistically.

Alex’s suggestion had been a good one, but I didn’t like the idea of playing with fire in such a dry climate. Starting a brush fire was a very real risk. Instead, I pulled up a similar spell that was part of Serafina’s regular rotation. In-game, it rained down deadly purple droplets. I had no idea what they were or what they would do, but they had proven effective at killing most things in-game. I looked at the spell in the word processor and committed it to memory.

“Acidic downpour,” I shouted while casting my hand in front of me and feeling like an idiot.

The English translation proved ineffective. My guess was the purple substance didn’t have an English equivalent.

“
Acruvio regnian
.” While saying the spell, I pictured what it looked like in-game. A few purple sprinkles appeared and burned the ground like acid. Not the impressive display I’d hoped for, probably because I didn’t know exactly what I was doing. It might be better to move along to the elements I was familiar with.

Next.

* * *

A
t the end
of four hours I’d created a cyclone I could control, summoned lightning strikes, refined my skill at using ice as a weapon, and made the logical discovery that I could use my power to accurately throw rocks at a target. I’d also learned a neat defensive trick.

“How did it go?” Alex asked when I met him back at the car.

“You tell me.” I cast a concealment spell I’d been working on. Since it could keep me concealed without alerting someone to my presence, I prioritized learning how to execute the spell nonverbally.

Alex’s eyes widened and he started forward. “Kat?”

“I’m here.” I raised my hand and waved at him. This particular spell transformed my skin and clothing to blend in with my surroundings. I reappeared before Alex. “What do you think?”

“That was amazing. If you hadn’t moved, I wouldn’t have been able to see you at all. And if I hadn’t seen you disappear, it would’ve been nearly impossible for me to pick up that little bit of movement without knowing exactly what I was looking for.”

“Yeah, I’m a long ways off from offensively being a match for anyone, so I thought I should have some good defensive and avoidance skills. The offensive spells are a little harder, but I’ve got some up my sleeve.” I hadn’t been able to successfully execute any spells that didn’t use elements I knew. While playing the game, I’d never noticed how many spells used poisonous green fog, purple acid, or sprays of deadly gold light.

We headed to dinner, and I tried my best not to reveal the most important lesson I’d learned: that there was no way I could possibly survive an encounter with Marcus.

“
C
an
you order dinner for us? I’m going to do some more research.” We’d just settled in to our new hotel room, and I wanted to check out The Codex and troll for new spells. The forums were awash with people debating the virtues of this spell over that. As I’d found out earlier, not every spell translated into the real world, and there were also considerations in-game that I didn’t have that would skew my results, things such as health and magic meters that needed to be replenished. Seeing as I had an assassin actively searching for me, my general plan was to seek out spells people thought were overpowered.

“Sure,” Alex said. “I assume you want some kind of steak?”

“Yeah, that’d be great.” While practicing magic was not physically taxing, it did drain me. From the reading I’d done back at the Armory, magical ability was thought by some to be like a muscle which grew stronger with use. Not many people had ever been in my position before, and I could attest that this theory about magic was true. Most people learned magic gradually; I was cramming it all in to save my life—literally.

The Wi-Fi in the hotel was slow, especially when I was anxious for content. As expected for this time of night, the forums were a hive of activity. I scanned the list of topics on the main forum page.

That was a good thread to click on. My character didn’t have that spell, so I’d have to look it up in the database.

That caught my eye, not just because of my name but because of the correct grammar. The author of the thread was GreyMist. Count on her to brag for me. I clicked on the thread and read her post.

This was linked to my profile page so people could check out my stats and see proof of my new title.

GreyMist had been there the night I got my title. She knew someone had access to my accounts. This was her way of reaching out to me, of trying to make contact.

A knock sounded on the door, and Alex answered it, making way for the server bringing our dinner.

“It’s time to eat,” Alex said as he unloaded the tray of food on the table and placed my plate next to my laptop.

“I can’t right now. This is important. My best friend’s trying to get a hold of me.”

“Whatever it is can wait. You need to eat, and it’ll be better hot.”

“It’s serious, Alex. Marcus has already talked to her while pretending to be me. She’s trying to reach out to me in a way that he won’t find out about.”

“Yes, that’s important. It’s also important that you eat. She’ll still be there when you’re done. If I’m going to protect you, you have to do your part, and that means taking care of yourself.”

Alex’s yellow eyes bore into me as he looked down from where he stood next to my chair. And of course it was at that moment that my stomach decided to release a growl that could rival any of Alex’s.

“Fine, but I’m doing it because my stomach says so, not because you do.”

“That’s totally fair,” Alex said while unsuccessfully suppressing a laugh.

As I ate, I couldn’t keep my mind from wandering to what GreyMist could possibly want. It wouldn’t be anything good. A post like that was practically code, and she wouldn’t do that just to chat. Marcus must have done something.

The food helped not only relieve my hunger but also calm my anxiety. Good decisions are rarely made on an empty stomach, and when I finally pushed the plate away, I had a much more level head on my shoulders to deal with the issue.

“Don’t worry, I’ll clear.” Alex put our dishes outside the door while I opened my laptop.

The message had been a cry for me to get in touch with her in a way that didn’t make use of my normal accounts. Underneath her avatar, a green circle showed she was currently online. I clicked on her name and chose the option to send a private message.

I momentarily worried this might be a trap, but it was unlikely Marcus had found a way to hack her. The only reason he had access to my information was because he had my computer. This wasn’t a CIA assassin; he didn’t have technical knowledge.

I didn’t want her to think I was someone trolling her. She was the only person in-game who knew my real name. I hit “send” and hoped that she’d get it before logging off.

My sense of time was warped as I waited for her to reply. After hitting the refresh button a ridiculous number of times, a new message appeared.

My worst nightmare had come true.

I had absolutely no problem lying to my best friend when her safety was at risk.

The little green light below her avatar went gray when she logged off.

I sat back in my chair, my mind whirling and my stomach churning at the danger I’d placed my best friend in. There wasn’t even a question in my mind as to what I should do. I pulled my phone from my pocket and began to dial.

“What are you doing?” Alex asked. He snatched the phone from my hands before I even realized he was standing behind me.

“Marcus threatened my best friend today. He says all he wants to do is talk, and he gave her his number for me to call. I’m calling it.” I made a grab for the phone, but Alex had cat reflexes even in human form.

“Oh no, you’re not. He wants to do more than talk.”

“You don’t know that.” Sure, I assumed he wanted to do more than that too, but we didn’t
know.
“I’m not going to let him hurt my best friend. This is my mess, and I may not have asked for it but neither did she, and I’m not going to let her pay the price. She’s the only friend I had after my parents’ death, the only person I could talk to. I’m not going to let something happen to her for being my friend.”

“I can understand how you feel, and I admire you for it, but Marcus will not hesitate to kill you. I know you’re getting better with your magic, but this is a man who’s been practicing his entire life, the man who killed your mother, who many people say was the most powerful mage they’d ever met.”

“Well then this only has one ending, and we both know it. He’s going to kill me no matter what. I’d rather he not kill my best friend too. And even if I can escape him somehow, even if we get a portal to Elustria, I’m still not going to let him hurt her. I might not know what I’m doing with my life, but I do know that I’m not the type of person who’d let someone else be hurt because of me. If I can’t even say that about myself, then what’s the point of living?”

Alex’s eyes showed his weakening resolve. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get my phone from him unless he voluntarily gave it to me. The only weapons I had against him were words, and I saved my sharpest for last.

“Your father understood what it meant to die protecting someone. You came back to protect me. Let me protect my person. Your father wouldn’t have let an innocent person die, would he?” I searched his eyes for an answer, and made sure he knew from the way I leaned toward him that I wasn’t going to let him get away without answering.

A tense moment passed before Alex visibly deflated. “No, he wouldn’t. You’re right about that. I’ll give you back your phone but only if you talk to me first. We need a plan. You’re not going to call an assassin who wants to kill you and invite him here without some kind of plan. You don’t have to die. The only way you’re going to get out of this alive is if we work together. So let me help you.”

“Deal.” I admired that he gave me the phone as soon as I agreed instead of waiting for me to follow through.

“He’s going to want to meet you.”

“I know.”

“Where were you thinking? A public place would make it harder for him to do anything.”

“It also endangers the general public. He might not be willing to reveal magic, but if I’m threatened by him, my talisman might take over. Besides, if he’s a sorcerer as Casper thinks, he’ll be able to teleport me away. A public place doesn’t provide much safety. I also won’t feel comfortable defending myself in public.”

“We’ll go somewhere remote then, where you can use your magic.”

“When? I want to get it over with, but I should probably sleep tonight.” Sleeping was a pipe dream. Adrenaline must have been rushing through my veins, because I didn’t feel much fear at the prospect of death. No other outcome seemed likely, but the reality that I would soon be dead didn’t penetrate. No matter how much my mind knew it was true, my emotions didn’t react.

“Do you think there’s any way he can track where you are if you call him?”

“If he was a human with advanced tech skills, yes. But even for a human he’d have to be pretty smart to figure out how to do that since this is a new phone. I don’t think it’s a realistic possibility.”

“Let’s meet him tomorrow. That’ll give us tonight to rest and prepare.”

I dialed the number GreyMist had given me. The ringing was overshadowed by the pounding of my heart.

“Hello. This is Kat, I presume.”

“You’re right. Stay away from my friends.” I sounded much more badass than I felt.

“I have no desire to hurt your friends. I have no desire to hurt you. I want to talk; that is all. You are in possession of something that I don’t think you quite understand, something that I need.”

“If all you want to do is talk, then talk. No one’s stopping you.”

“The kind of conversation I want to have needs to happen in person.” He obviously thought the word “conversation” meant something different than most people.

“If I agree to meet you, do you promise to stop harassing my friends?”

“Of course.”

Asking the question was stupid. What kind of response did I expect? The word of an assassin meant nothing.

“I’ll meet you tomorrow. I’ll text you the location in the morning, and we can meet at eleven.”

“Can you tell me what state you’re in?”

“Not until morning.”

“Very well. I’ll see you then. And I hope it goes without saying that notifying the authorities or speaking to anyone else about this meeting would be ill-advised.”

“I understand.”

The line went dead, and I would soon join it.