Magician Rising (Divination in Darkness Book 1)

by Renée des Lauriers

  Jun took a deep breath. They needed information, and this creature came because Jun had been looking for advice. She waved to the… woman? Lion? She waved, hoping it wouldn’t get her killed. “Hi, ma’am. Are you going to ask me riddles? I heard that a sphinx will eat someone who gets their riddles wrong.”

  “Is it my fault that they were stupid and I was hungry?” The sphinx smiled wide, showing off teeth that were curved into points.

  “Jun,” Nikolai said in an undertone. “What are you doing?”

  “Getting us answers,” Jun muttered. To the sphinx, she asked, “Can you tell me why we’re here?”

  “Why are any of us here?” The sphinx flicked her lion tail. Didn’t that mean that she was getting annoyed in big cat language? Jun had to come up with better questions.

  “I mean why are we now? Why are we trapped in this moment?”

  “Shouldn’t you ask that of yourself?” The sphinx extended her wicked claws, examining them like a manicure.

  Jun shook her head. “I don’t know the answer. That’s why I’m asking you.”

  The sphinx scoffed. “Do you not remember what you asked for?”

  Asked for this? Did the sphinx mean ask for magic? Heat flushed through Jun’s body at the unfairness of it. All those years of bad luck. She’d never asked for any of this. “Magic has never given me what I asked for. My job is crap, my roommate is crap, and I can’t even go on a date without the guy falling into a ditch or catching on fire somehow.”

  “Why do you blame the magic? Did you not question your own preference in mates?” The sphinx looked at Nikolai and raised an eyebrow. “Do you really wonder why the light tries to protect you from yourself?”

  Wait, what? Jun felt dissed by the lion-lady somehow.

  But that wasn’t important. How was light supposed to protect her? What did that have to do with magic?

  “I’m not looking for protection. I just want everything to go back to normal,” Jun snapped.

  The eyes of the sphinx were contracted wide, like a cat who spotted a mouse. “Which normal? The normal that makes you feel comfortable? The normal where you have no idea who you are and what you can do? The normal where the light and dark fight to claim you?”

  Great. More cryptic talk about light and dark when Jun was trying to find out about magic. This wasn’t helping. The sphinx was just answering her questions with more questions.

  “I just don’t want to be here. I want to get back to the real world.” Jun's voice shook as she crossed her arms.

  Beside her, Nikolai tensed as well. He gripped his knife in his hand, and his eyes tracked the twitching tail of the sphinx warily.

  “Why would a place that is not here be any more real?” Her voice was dangerously playful, like a cat toying with her prey.

  Jun shook her head. This was real? How could that be? Everything was frozen and there were monsters. Hell, Jun was talking to a sphinx right now.

  Unless this meant that under the magic, this was still the real world. Not something going on in her head. Not some dream. Which meant that actions here would have real consequences. Either way, Jun had to get out. Had to fix it somehow. “If you know the answers, can you help me?” Jun eyed the deep gouges the sphinx carved into the earth with her claws. “Please?”

  “What good are answers when you ask all the wrong questions?” The sphinx held one claw up to her forehead as if she were staving off a headache.

  Why were even the monsters getting annoyed with her? This magic stuff needed to come with a manual. “What’s the right question?”

  “Why don’t you try asking yourself what problems you have with the truth?” The voice of the sphinx was smug, like a cat that got the canary. She probably enjoyed insulting Jun. “Is there any answer that isn’t already within you?”

  Jun gaped at the sphinx. Problems with the truth? Did that make Jun a liar? But she wasn’t a liar, besides lying to her dad sometimes. Was she?

  “Anything else?” The sphinx stretched out her claws, ruffling her feathers.

  Something tugged at Jun. It could have been nothing, but the worry that it wasn’t wouldn’t go away. “Yeah, what’s up with the fortune cookies? Should I have trusted them?”

  “You’ve read your fortune?” the sphinx hissed. Her pupils contracted into cat-like slits.

  “Uhh.” Was she not supposed to? It wasn’t like those things came with warning labels. “Just every once in a while. I like Chinese food.”

  The sphinx shook her head. “How have you survived so long?”

  The sphinx rolled her wings back, extending them out to their full width. She snapped her wings against the ground once, twice, and then was airborne.

  It didn't take long before she was over the clouds.

  “She flew away,” Jun informed Nikolai. She held her hand over her eyes, watching the sphinx disappear from view. How could a fortune cookie scare off a monster with the teeth and claws of a lion?

  “What the hell were you doing?” Nikolai had put his knife away and was back to glaring at her. “Were you antagonizing that thing on purpose?”

  “What are you talking about?” She’d just tried to get them answers. Following his stupid advice in the first place.

  “You were complaining to a man-eating monster about your roommates and boyfriends.” Nikolai shook his head like he couldn’t believe she’d do that.

  “Well, of course it sounds bad when you say it like that,” Jun muttered.

  “What was up with you? It was like you had completely forgotten that the situation was dangerous.” Nikolai ran his hand through his hair, scowling at her. “Why were you being rude to a creature that could kill you?”

  “No, I wasn’t.” Jun frowned.

  “Never mind, then.” Nikolai sighed. “Why did you ask about the fortune cookie? What happened?”

  Jun thought back to the moment after she snapped apart the crisp wafer. “My last fortune cookie told me to run.”

  “Did you?”

  “No.” Jun shook her head. It was just a weird cookie and she had to get to work. “About forty minutes later I ran into you.” Jun gestured to the frozen park around them. “You remember the rest of it.”

  “Do you remember any other fortunes?”

  How was she supposed to remember every time she ate a cookie? “I don’t know. Something about a bag.” A bag. Jun paused. The new bag hanging from her shoulder—the bag she’d been drooling over for weeks. She only bought that bag when her other one had snapped. “Oh. Shit.”

  “What?”

  “That was the day of the earthquake,” Jun whispered. Was the sphinx right?

  Nikolai rubbed his eyes as if he could wipe away the blindness. “Maybe we should go get you another one.”

  “The sphinx was pretty clear that fortune cookies are not a good idea for me.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s the only clue we have. I passed by a Chinese restaurant on the main road about four blocks away.” Nikolai stepped cautiously back toward the sidewalk.

  “Wait,” Jun said. If they were really going to do this, they might as well do it right. “There's another restaurant by the Safeway I want to try.”

  17

  Nikolai tripped and fell hard to the ground, barely catching himself. He managed to get a mouthful of grass and dirt clumps from his surprised gasp.

  “Sorry, I meant your other left,” Jun said.

  He swiped at his mouth, brushing away moist earth and stones. This was the second time he’d tripped. Was Jun doing that on purpose? “How much further?”

  “It’s just across the next intersection. Are you sure you don't want to follow me?”

  If Jun got taken out, he’d be trapped here. Nikolai shook his head.

  It was like walking through a fog. Everything was a shapeless gray around him. It was quiet enough for Nikolai to hear the steady pulse of his heartbeat, until the adrenaline wore off and that too faded into the quiet. His breathing felt obscenely loud. How could he notice Dawson app
roaching over the sound of his own damn panting?

  “Crack,” Jun called out from behind him.

  Nikolai slowed his walk, brushing his feet along the cement until he could feel the cracked edge of the sidewalk. He gingerly stepped over it.

  “The sidewalk ends in five feet. Joyful Noodle is just across the street.” Jun pointed out the restaurant.

  All Nikolai could see was a haze like gray smoke. That haze and Jun. If he focused, Nikolai could see the thin stripes that made up her outline. Didn’t matter if she was behind him, or behind solid objects. He could manage to pinpoint her location if he focused.

  “Any chance the door was left open?”

  “No.” Jun shook her head. “The lights are off. This place doesn’t open until noon.”

  This was a risk. But what other choice did they have?

  “I need you to grab me a rock.” Nikolai felt a pebble pressed into his hands and resisted the urge to roll his blind eyes. “How am I supposed to break the door open with this?”

  “There aren’t exactly any boulders lying around here,” Jun muttered. Fine strands of black and white flowed within the haze like ripples in water. Jun’s outline paced before leaning over and jostling something low to the ground.

  Nikolai approached in slow, measured paces. He reached down to help, his hand brushing against hers.

  There was warmth, soft skin, and a faint pulse of energy until Jun pulled her hand away.

  His mutinous heart sped up.

  Nikolai grabbed the rock and retraced his steps back to the front of the store. “What's the layout of the restaurant?”

  “There are three rows of booths to your left and four tables to the right.” Jun pointed to the booths and tables as she spoke. “The path in front of you is about four feet wide leading to the counter. That's where the jar filled with fortune cookies is, next to the green Buddha statue.”

  “We have to make this quick. Just grab the cookies and go.” This was a risk. But staying here and doing nothing was a greater risk. His blindness was a liability. He’d be useless as a defense against the creature now. “You ready?”

  Jun shrugged. “About as ready as I can get for a cookie heist.”

  Nikolai slammed the rock into the door until he heard glass clatter to the floor.

  He pushed his way through splintered edges of glass and felt the drop in temperature once inside.

  Following the directions, he walked straight into the counter. He patted the surface, feeling around.

  The figure of Jun grabbed his hand, placing it on top of the cold jar.

  Nikolai braced himself and yanked the little jar, which felt as if it weighed over a hundred pounds. As he tugged it away from the counter and braced it against himself, the jar felt as though it weighed closer to five pounds. He pried off the lid easily.

  “I still don't see what all the fuss is,” Jun muttered as she reached for one. As her fingers hovered over the jar, the cookies appeared to Nikolai in the gray haze. One by one, they were struck through with color, some bright white and the others a solid black.

  “They changed. As soon as you got close to them. They’re all black or white.” These colors were like those that made up Jun. They had to be the colors of magic.

  “Which is this?” Jun’s hand hovered over a cookie in the jar.

  “That's a white one.”

  “Let's try it.” With the snap of the cookie, a bright ripple flashed across the restaurant in a blinding ring of light.

  Nikolai winced at the burn of light in the haze, as afterimages obscured his view.

  “It just says, ‘catch the rabbit,’” Jun said, her voice indifferent. “What about this one?”

  “That’s one of the black ones.” As Jun reached for it, the darkened patch on Nikolai’s palm twitched. It was as if a foreign body jerked within him, fighting to get out.

  He tightened his hand into a fist as tight as it could go. Holding in whatever it was. Worry bloomed, knotting up his stomach. Something was happening to him. They needed answers, but was this worth it?

  Jun snapped open the cookie and the entire room was plunged into shadow. Darkness blocked out everything for a moment. The shadows started to dissipate back into the haze of gray, except for thickened blotches that remained.

  Jun read the dark fortune. “It says, ‘Go to the shadows.’”

  As she read, the darkness solidified into the shadow of a person—small and crouched low. In a jerky, mechanical move, the shadow twisted its head toward them.

  “Jun, get the fuck out.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Go!”

  Nikolai heard the clatter of her footsteps as he launched himself toward the shadow figure. His shoulder slammed into a table, knocking him to the side, as the figure rushed to intercept Jun. Darting forward, Nikolai grasped the dark silhouette by the ankles, grabbing hold of dry skin that felt like wrinkled leather.

  With a hiss it turned, clawing deep into Nikolai's arms and cheek, ripping away bits of skin. The thing grabbed hold of the meat of Nikolai's forearm and latched on. Though the hand was small, the grip was inhuman.

  Fingertips dug in, breaking skin. Nikolai couldn’t see his own arm, but he could see the lines of black spreading like cracked ice in the place where his arm should be. The lines thickened into a dark web in the shape of his arm. As it spread, his fingers jerked in a spasm.

  His hand twisted and turned, reaching for him. Nikolai kicked sharply at his arm, unable to feel it, unable to stop it, as it pressed down slow against his own throat. Nikolai gasped, forcing in as much air as he could hold as the familiar shape of his hand choked him.

  Then pressure, closing in on his neck and all around him. Cutting off breath and thought. Every muscle tensed, straining and helpless. Nikolai clenched his jaws shut, forcing himself not to exhale out. Forced himself to hold on to the little air that he had left. His free hand grasped his throat, trying to pry off the fingers that felt welded on, immovable.

  Footsteps jarred his attention from his imminent death. What the hell? He forced his neck to twist in the direction of the sound.

  “No!” Nikolai said, losing air. That silhouette was Jun. What the hell was she doing?

  She stepped hesitantly, but closer. “Get away from him.”

  Nikolai opened his mouth to warn her off. To get her out of there. All that came out was a strangled gurgle.

  Jun was holding something. He couldn’t see. Maybe the bear bag? What was she…

  Bright light like a supernova flooded the room. The shadow let him go, snarling, as the weight on his neck loosened.

  Nikolai drew in a raspy breath, easing the crushing tension.

  Jun reached down and placed her hand lightly on his chest. At her touch, there was a warm flicker of energy, a rush of wind.

  Then a disorienting flip, changing everything.

  18

  Jun held on to her knees, catching her breath. “Are you going to tell me what that was all about?” She turned around to find that she was talking to no one. What? Nikolai wasn’t right behind her?

  He didn’t get out. Crashes and bangs came from inside the Joyful Noodle.

  Nikolai was a big guy. He’d be fine. But Jun crept closer to get a look at what was going on.

  On his back, grimacing in a tangle of struggling limbs, Nikolai was in the grip of a wrinkled man—a man with lines of black streaming from his eyes and hands. Even from outside of the building, Jun could hear the man hissing. His jaws were spread wider than possible for a human. From within, a forked tongue flicked.

  Shit.

  What could she do? Should she distract the shadow-man?

  The outside of the restaurant looked different. Everything was still, suspended in a moment. Immobile. But somehow different.

  It was the shadows. They stretched out longer. The very air felt weighted by darkness.

  How was that possible?

  A prickling at the back of her neck caused Jun to slowly look up.


  The sun, hanging just above the tree-line, was starting to eclipse. The burning yellow disc was slowly being eaten away as the shadows stretched closer to her.

  From where it formed a humble line across the ground, the shade grew. Slinking and snaking near. Eating up the light with relentless hunger. Jun backed away from the wall of night closing in on her from all around. There was nowhere to go.

  Already, the sun was a thin crescent.

  The darkness thickened and writhed as if it was a living thing.

  And within the gloom, something was watching her. Waiting. The longer Jun looked into the darkness, the more she was sure of it. Something was looking back at her. Calling to her.

  Jun backed away into the middle of the street. As far from the shadows as she could manage. The sunlight faded.

  A line of trees cast a shadow that spread toward her.

  There was nowhere to go.

  “Catch the rabbit,” Jun whispered.

  As if her words drew his presence, there he was. The white rabbit was across the street, playing in a patch of sunlight.

  Jun ran for him, weaving around the patches of darkness.

  “How do I? Oh,” Jun said as she stood in front of the rabbit. In her hands, she still clutched one half of a fortune cookie.

  “Hey there, little guy.” Jun held the cookie out. The rabbit stood up to attention, sniffing delicately at the vanilla confectionary.

  “That’s a good rabbit. Very good rabbit. Do you want the cookie?” Jun held it out closer, letting the rabbit get a good, deep sniff.

  “Go get it.” Jun tossed the cookie into her bear bag and the rabbit darted after it into the bag. Jun flipped the cover over the sound of him munching.

  Gotcha.

  The shadows drew away as she stepped near, and Jun cleared a path back to the Joyful Noodle.

  There, Nikolai was on the floor, his face contorted. The man that wasn’t a man dug fingers into Nikolai’s shoulder, piercing through the skin like claws. Blood was leaking out of the wound and beginning to pool on the floor.

  “Get away from him!”

  The thing ignored her.

  As if by instinct, Jun wielded her bear bag like a weapon. She lifted the cover, revealing the rabbit inside.