The Lost Mage (29 page)

“Oh.” Nora stared at the mage. “So, what are we going to do now?”

“Regroup. Now that I know its vulnerability, I can defeat it. All I need to do is enslave the elements and then summon lightning to kill it.”

Nora raised an eyebrow. “Oh, that’s all, is it?”

Darakin’s face fell. “I know. It does seem hopeless.” Dejection weighed him down as he dropped into the seat next to her.

The train stopped at the next station. Darakin pulled Nora to the only spot near the end of the car where they weren’t plainly visible to anyone or anything on the platform. When the doors closed, he peeked out the window and saw the green tail of the demon disappearing through the large hole it had made in the exit gate.

“Listen, I know you don’t like it on here, but since we’re already on, if we stay a few more stops, we’ll be pretty close to home.”

“Okay. It’s actually not as bad as I thought it would be.”

Nora knew that Darakin was feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of trying to defeat the demon, but she didn’t have any words to comfort him.

By the time they returned to the apartment, they were both exhausted. Mrowley lifted his head up from his spot on the sofa.
Hey, I thought you were going out for steak? Where’s the white box?

“No, we went on a stakeout. Nobody had any steak.”

Oh. Well, could I get some food? I haven’t eaten in days.

With an exasperated sigh, Darakin pulled a can of cat food from the cabinet. “You ate a few hours ago. Why do you always exaggerate?”

Exaggerate? Hey, I don’t know how to tell time. I only know how long things feel and it feels like I haven’t eaten in days. My belly is rumbling.

“Fine, here.” Darakin put the food down on the kitchen floor. Mrowley sauntered out to eat it after a long, leisurely stretch as he got off the couch.

“Nora and I are going to sleep.”

Just leave the door open. I’ll be there in a minute.

Darakin just shook his head and collapsed on the bed next to Nora, both of them still fully clothed.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Darakin awoke after a few hours and stared at the ceiling. He had hoped that things would seem clearer to him after some sleep, but he was feeling as overwhelmed as he had last night.

Nora stirred beside him and he put her arm around her. She snuggled closer to him.

“What time is it?” she asked, as she opened her eyes to look at the clock. “Oh, sweet Jaysus, we’ll be late if we don’t get moving. How did we sleep so long?”

She jumped out of bed and started dressing. She stopped and turned toward Darakin who was once again staring at the ceiling. “What’s with you, love? We need to get ready for work.”

“I don’t know how I’m going to beat this thing. How can I enslave the elements? It took an army of mages to do it in my realm.”

“Not to mention that you’d probably destroy the planet here if you did manage to do it.”

“Huh?”

“Well, sweetie, we don’t have any mage schools here. I don’t think you’d be able to help the entire planet when they needed rain or wind. We’d starve to death when the crops died.”

Darakin gasped. “You’re right! I didn’t even think of that. Now I have no means of killing it.”

“Well, maybe not. Let’s think about this. Electricity is lightning, right?”

“If you say so. We don’t have this electricity you speak of in my realm.”

“Ah, but you do, it’s just that nobody there has figured it out yet. So trust me, electricity is like lightning. And we have managed to harness electricity so we can use it. We even generate our own. Every time you turn on a light or an appliance, that’s electricity doing it. But you don’t want to touch any electrical lines because you might get a shock … or worse.”

“How is this going to help me kill the krekdapop?”

“Have you ever heard of a stun gun?” At his blank stare, she continued, “No, of course you haven’t. No electricity in your realm. Well, we have a weapon called a stun gun. It uses electricity to disable people.”

“Do you have such a device?”

“No, but I can buy one. They’re legal for sale.”

Darakin sat up. “Well, that gives me hope. Maybe we can beat him after all. Let’s get one of these stun guns.”

“I’ll get it tomorrow. There’s a shop that sells self-defense items a few blocks over. It’s where I got my mace, I mean the pepper spray.”

“Okay.” Darakin, feeling much better than when he’d first awakened, got out of bed and dressed.

Mrowley sat up, blinking his eyes against the bright sunlight streaming in through the window.
What’s going on? We just went to bed?

“No, we’ve been asleep for hours. Nora and I need to go to work.”

Oh, well can I have some food? I haven’t eaten in days.

“I … you … do you really not remember the conversations we have about this stuff? I fed you a few hours ago. It hasn’t been days. And of course I’ll give you some food before we leave. Don’t I always?”

I don’t know. Do you? Why are you asking me what you do? That seems kind of silly.

Darakin turned to Nora. “Once again, he says he hasn’t eaten in days.”

“Really? Days? Again?”

“He claims he can’t actually tell time and that it feels to his belly like he hasn’t eaten in that long.”

“It’s possible he’s telling the truth. Who knows how time feels to a cat? I mean one human year equals what? Something like a couple of years to a cat.”

“Really? How do you know that?”

“It’s what the vets tell us.”

“Vets?”

“Short for veterinarian.”

At the word veterinarian, Mrowley crouched down and hissed.
No! I’m not going to the torturer. Don’t let her take me there, Darakin. Pleeeeeease!

“Torturer? What are you talking about, cat?”

The veterinarian. It’s another word for torturer. They do unspeakable things to animals. I’ve heard they even stick things …
Mrowley gulped,
in places where nothing should go. And they cut off some tomcat’s …
Mrowley stopped, too distressed to continue.

“What is wrong with him?” Nora said, concerned at the cat’s sudden skittish, terrified movements.

“He says these veterinarians are torturers of animals?”

“No, they’re not, they’re pet doctors.”

“Ah, that explains it. Mrowley is afraid of the healer.”

Nora looked at Mrowley. “We’re not taking you to the vet. And even if we were, it would only be to make you well if you were sick. But don’t worry.”

Mrowley calmed down a bit.

“Have a quick bite to eat with me before we go. I’ll make sandwiches.” She took Darakin’s hand and headed into the kitchen.

“Anyway,” Nora continued as she made their lunch, “the vet … those people tell us that cats age much faster than we do. So one of our years seems a lot longer to them.”

“I see.”

Darakin and Nora ate sandwiches, put food down for Mrowley and headed out to the bar. As they walked along the street, she took hold of his hand.

“I have a confession,” she said.

“About what?”

“About you.”

Darakin’s heart started pounding. Was she going to say she loved him? He thought he was falling in love with her, but he still thought about going home. Was it fair to get involved with her?
You silly sot, you’re already involved with her,
he thought. He was so involved in his reverie that he forgot that she wanted to say something.

“Hello? Are you even interested?” Nora became annoyed at his inattentiveness.

“Oh, yes, I’m sorry. What could you possibly have to confess?”

“Well, I’m not sure that I really believed you until last night when I actually saw the demon.”

Darakin let out a sigh of relief. “Is that all?”

“Is that all? I’ve been lying and pretending to sort of believe you all this time. I feel terrible.”

“It’s okay. Sometimes you need to see something with your own eyes to know that it’s true.”

“‘Seeing is believing’ is what we say here.”

“It’s a good saying.”

“So, you’re not mad?”

He stopped walking and turned to face her. “I know how bizarre all of this seems to you. How could I be mad?” He pulled her close and gave her a hug.

Nora got carried away by the moment and murmured into his chest, “I love you.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she was filled with horror.

Darakin’s heart stopped for a minute. This was exactly what he was afraid of. He didn’t know how to respond, so he said nothing, but she felt him stiffen as he held her.

“I mean … I … I love that I finally believe you. And that we … we’re going to work together to kill this demon.”

“Oh. Me too.” But the damage was done. The two separated awkwardly and started walking again, neither taking the other’s hand.

That night at work, the time passed at a snail’s pace. They each kept looking at the clock, both looking forward to going home and at the same time, dreading walking home together.