by S. M. Savoy
“Where!” he bellowed and ran west to the lightning that flickered overhead. His magic followed, mixing with the smoke drifting from the broken window. Distantly, a siren wailed. Sudden pain made him scream. Her pain grew and her terror with it.
“Where are you!” he shrieked until the pain overwhelmed him and darkness pressed upon him. He awoke moments later and felt nothing at all. The lightning had faded, and he lay in the parking lot. She’d gone eagerly into the dark again or maybe he had. He was just grateful her pain had stopped. Sirens blared, police, fire, and ambulance, but it felt distant and disconnected. He felt nothing at all from Sara. No magic surrounded him, no lightning lit the sky and he felt weak as if he’d fought for hours, not the mere minutes that he’d felt her. A glance at his wristcomp confirmed it had been just twenty minutes since her first spike of terror.
“Charlie,” Liz called hesitantly, and he realized he could hear murmuring voices, but it was too much effort to lift his head to see who spoke.
A minute later Liz crouched beside him and took his hand. “Can you get up?”
He closed his eyes and sobbed.
She said hesitantly, “Is it— over?”
“It will never be over until I kill them all.”
“Is she…” Liz sobbed and stopped speaking.
“I don’t know. I feel nothing now. It can transport me anywhere. Why didn’t it take me to her?”
“I don’t know.”
“This is my fault. I should’ve never let her leave the zone without me.”
“You can’t blame yourself.”
“Why not? We both know this would’ve never happened if I hadn’t wanted this.” He lifted a hand and waved vaguely at the school. The voices in the distance grew louder and took on clarity, and he knew he should rise and pretend to be fine or the emergency personnel would want to see him, but he couldn’t muster the energy.
Manny ran up and handed Liz a blanket that she draped over him. “Get a stretcher and we’ll get him into my lab,” Liz said.
Charlie heaved a sigh and forced himself to sit. “I can walk.”
Liz tucked the blanket around him again, and Charlie impatiently threw it from him.
“Chief, your uniform is burned. Keep covered,” Manny said as he handed him the blanket again.
Charlie glanced down and grimaced at the remains of his clothes.
“Let us help you,” Liz murmured as she tried to tug him up.
“No one can help,” he said but he pushed himself up and let Manny support him. Scouts and their hired security bustled about the parking lot, and Liz released him to say loudly, “Just a concussion! No broken bones. I’ll see to him.”
She continued to talk as Manny dragged him away, half carrying him.
“Take him right downstairs,” Joy said. “I’ve got them distracted.”
Her voice made his magic stir, a weak ripple of sadness, and he suddenly wanted to cry, not for his pain but for hers. The walk to Liz’s lab passed in a daze.
“He’s in shock,” Liz said, and he opened his eyes to see her leaning over him. He glanced at his HUD. Four minutes. He’d lost four minutes. “Of course, he’s scared,” Liz continued angrily, and Charlie glanced around to see who she spoke with.
Nelson frowned at Joy and snapped. “Control your damned magic. Give him some privacy!”
“You aren’t helping,” Liz said angrily and put an arm around Joy.
“I am scared,” he said, wondering if that’s why he felt so weak. He was so scared he had no room left for anger. “Please wake up,” he murmured and closed his eyes, trying to force a connection to Sara.
“Leave them alone,” Liz said as Joy laid her head on Charlie’s chest and began to cry.
He smoothed her hair as he concentrated. Stasia, Hawk, and Rick entered, and he felt their pain. Their magic swooped about the room for a moment before sinking to the floor in fear and confusion.
They spoke and cried, and he heard nothing but white noise as he concentrated. It got easier when the magic dissipated and Joy fell asleep. Her pain made it hard to concentrate. But asleep in his arms he could feel her heartbeat and was able to commune with his magic.
It wanted Sara and hummed beneath his skin, but the gap was too large, and he couldn’t make it understand or it couldn’t make him understand. Static began to flicker but it petered out before manifesting into lightning.
“I don’t think it knows what to do either,” Liz whispered.
Charlie opened his eyes and tightened his grip on Joy.
“Leave her here.”
“We will. But if she wants to go— She loves Drew.”
“It isn’t like that. Sara isn’t replaceable, and I haven’t given up. She could just be sedated. They’ve done it before.” Anger returned with a force like a blow.
“What happened?” Liz asked hesitantly.
“I don’t know. Something that scared her almost to death. I think it made her pass out. And then she was in pain. So much pain and so afraid…” he began to cry, waking Joy who began to cry again too.
“The magic could transport me. Zones are so arbitrary. Why can’t it cross them? She wanted me so badly.” The anger felt good, refreshing, and he let himself become furious. “What good are you!” he screamed as he jumped from the bed and ripped an oxygen tank from the wall. He smashed the metal tank to pieces, then attacked the bed. Joy joined him in his destructive frenzy, and Liz ran from the room.
He and Joy destroyed the room, ripping chunks from the ceilings and walls with their bare hands, shredding everything to pieces until all that remained were scraps of cloth and chunks of dented metal.
“We need a mage,” Joy said through panting breaths. She glanced at her wristcomp, keying it on with a blink. “Drew, we need you or Lee. We need a mage.”
Lee ran into the room a minute later and Charlie rose his arms. The lightning came but try as hard as he could, he couldn’t get it to leap to Lee. He wasn’t sure if it didn’t want to or didn’t understand or was trying and couldn’t.
“Brenda, will you try?” Charlie asked on the open raid channel.
* * *
“Enough,” Liz said and knelt beside Charlie. “It isn’t going to work. Let them rest and we can try again tomorrow on our mountain.”
He lay on the floor panting. Brenda was hurt and scared and magically depleted. His magic regenerated much faster than hers and wound slowly about the room, bringing him her despair as if she shouted Sara is dead and gone forever. Joy knelt beside Drew, handing him a water bottle that he waved away.
“I’m sorry,” Charlie said to Lee.
“It isn’t your fault. We want to help. I wish I could be the mage you need.”
He pulled her up and hugged her, smoothing the burnt wisps of hair back from her face.
“Thank you for trying so hard. I do want to try again on the mountain, but we won’t try to force it.”
I’m willing…”
“I know. But I’m not willing to hurt you like that again.” He turned to Drew. “I’m sorry, man. I had no right. I should never have—”
Drew cut him off with a curt gesture. “We’ll try again tomorrow.”
Charlie grimaced but nodded, hating he’d hurt his friends so badly but what choice did he have?
Liz helped them up and to the door, waving Charlie back.
“You owe them your protection too,” she said as she hugged him.
“I have to try.”
“We all do but you have to control yourself too. Don’t let fear or pain make you a tyrant.”
He stumbled from the room and to his office where he fell onto his couch exhausted. Sara’s silent screams for help rang in his head and he saw her terrified face behind his closed eyes.
He rose to go through all the reports one more time.
* * *
“It’s been a week; I haven’t felt her in a week.” His head in his hands, Charlie sat at Liz’s des
k trying to convince himself Sara was just unconscious, that their broken connection didn’t mean she’d died. “If Oz were here, we could find her. He could figure it out even without Locate.”
He glared at the screen behind her desk. The sound was muted but the news anchor was clearly talking about the abductions.
Liz said, “We’ll find them, have patience. Go back to school. Stasia and Joy are searching. Brenda is traveling and calling.”
“School,” Charlie said bitterly.
“Yes, when we find her, she’d hate to be the cause of your expulsion. There’s nothing you can do, Charlie. When we get a lead, we’ll all go.”
“Without Oz none of this—”
The words clogged in Charlie’s throat. They all knew Oz was dead. Nothing could hold a mage. He’d have portaled away if he couldn’t fight free.
Charlie had barely contemplated the loss of Oz, too caught up in the loss of Sara, but without Oz’s amazing intellect Valor would be reduced to brute force.
On the television, conspiracy theorists were having a field day claiming the government was behind the abductions. Experts gleefully debated the loss of the new power source on the economy. He turned away from the screen as two new men joined into the debate.
What good was magic without a mind to guide it? Without their mage, they’d never develop the tech they needed to ease the world’s distress when the magic became common knowledge. There would be no heal to share with the world just anger and unending fighting. Whoever had taken them had taken the world’s hope with them.
- 15 -
A Major Disagreement
“What are you doing?” Liz asked as she entered the lab.
Major Nelson glanced up from the boxes on the counter but continued to tape them closed.
“This is the only magic we’ll ever have and they’re wasting it.”
“It’s hardly a waste.”
Nelson rested a hip on the table and gestured at the empty shelves behind him. “How many times do you suppose they’ve cast Call-for-Help? They’re dead. The Scouts can cast a million more times—”
“We don’t know that!”
“Charlie hasn’t felt a glimmer from her in a month. Not one glimmer. She’s dead. I’m sorry, Liz. I really am but he felt her die. You saw him…”
“He felt pain and fear.”
“Followed by nothing.”
“If her m-nerve was removed…” Contemplating that made Liz nauseous and she had to stop speaking, afraid she’d vomit.
Nelson shook his head. “Even if they were alive, which I highly doubt because no one has even tried for the other three, but let’s assume they are. There are thousands of zones. We don’t have enough magic to keep calling randomly. Not in the spell-bracelets anyway. Brenda can continue her search. The bracelets need to be reserved for healing, for emergencies that we can actually do something about.”
“Charlie will be furious.”
Nelson snorted softly. “He’s already furious, and besides, he won’t know. He has no idea how much magic she had stored. I’m not planning to take the bracelets they have on them. When they run out, there won’t be more, that’s all. It’ll just happen sooner than they thought.”
“Did the general order this?”
Nelson sighed deeply and turned away to gather the last rods of stored magic.
“Did the general order this!” she repeated, angrily.
“No. But I could ask for the orders if you try to go over my head.”
“I outrank you.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’re a nurse.” He cleared his throat and offered her an apologetic smile. “Excuse me, ma’am, but this is my sphere, combat.”
“I have to disagree. This is my lab and you’re confiscating my supplies.”
“Fine. I’ll submit a request. And I know exactly how many are in here, Major Harris.”
Liz said nothing as he stalked from the room but as soon as the door closed she called General Campbell.
“Major Nelson was just in my lab, trying to remove the remaining magic Sara had stored,” she said without preamble. “I agree it needs to be rationed but removing it is a horrible idea. Charlie needs it. I’ve been weaning him off but it’s going to take time and patience and his cooperation. If he comes here and I have none of her magic to offer him, I can’t predict his response, but I can guarantee it’ll be hostile if he knows Major Nelson has her magic and won’t give it to him.”
“I agree,” Campbell said. He tapped his wristcomp. “I just sent you a copy of the letter John received this morning. The commandant is concerned and asking John to get Charlie to withdraw.”
“I’m not certain it’s Charlie causing the problem. It might be the lack of Hawk’s aura, I’m sure the commandant won’t expel Charlie with a month to go. He has no grounds.”
“He could make a case for depression and not accept him back next year. I’ll set up an appointment and we’ll speak to him. I think it’s even more imperative now that the bonds are tight with us.” He glanced at his wristcomp, tapping the face, grimacing ruefully. “Major Nelson. I’ll get back to him. How much magic remains for the spell-bracelets?”
“Not enough to keep on as we are. The major was correct about that. But I don’t think they’re dead. When Joy died, the magic wanted more instantly. Wouldn’t it hit Brenda and demand she make more if they were dead? Charlie has been trying to make a mage, but the magic doesn’t want one. It wants Sara. Why would it want her if she were dead?”
“They all report no compulsion to transform anyone?”
“So far,” Liz agreed. “They report the magic feels confused when with Charlie but behaves normally when away from him. Charlie riles all of them. Rick handles it best, but Marcus and Mike need the target dummies after being near him, speaking of which, I need more. I sent a new design idea to Oz’s father. It seems to help when the dummies break and I’m not sure if it’s the breaking or if they’re rage is just spent. I’d like to test that.”
“Of course.”
He seemed surprised she’d asked for permission and she frowned as she considered. “Normally, I’d send requests of this nature to Mary. She ensures the magical research funding is hidden but the company is a bit disorganized at the moment. John’s been in meetings trying to salvage our schedules but without Sara and Oz we’ll never meet our deadlines. Our programmers just don’t have the speed. The board meeting this month was canceled and I spoke to John and asked him to give me one more month before calling for another. I’m afraid of Charlie’s reaction.”
That was such a massive understatement she winced.
“The company… I hadn’t really considered.”
Liz shrugged. “Valor Industries will survive, but on a much smaller scale. John can continue producing the components they already manufacture but won’t have new ones to offer.”
“The light shield?”
“Nowhere near ready. I don’t know that it will ever be ready without Sara or Oz to finish the design. Sam has been working on it. He’d been helping them, but he just doesn’t have their vision. Maybe, given enough time, he could get it working. I really couldn’t say. Team Valor might be able to pick up where Oz and Sara left off, but I hate to ask them. Asking would be tantamount to giving up and we can’t afford to give up or our reputation will plummet.”
“We need to find them.”
“I’m open to suggestions.”
Campbell winced. “Lewis and Taylor are doing everything they can.”
“And we don’t have one lead.”
“Someone out there planned very well. We need to remain vigilant and catch them when they try for the others.”
“You still think it’s magic related and not about the new motors?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t understand why they’d kill Sara if it was about magic but maybe they know of her link to Charlie and thought he could find her using it.”
“It gives
me hope and nightmares.” Liz wiped her suddenly teary eyes.
“They’d have to remove the m-nerve.”
Liz closed her eyes. “And keep her in the dark.”
“It makes me sick to think about it.”
“Oz— they’ll have killed him. He’s too dangerous to let live. They all know it. If he’d woken, he’d have portaled away if he knew he couldn’t fight free.”
“Or he’s in the dark with Sara.”
“I don’t think her healing buff would be enough. He’d need medical care after a double amputation, although, I suppose they could keep him alive if they tried hard. Her buff would eventually heal him. But I don’t think he’d stay alive long if he had a way to end his life.”
“No, I don’t suppose they would.”
“Sara will hold out as long as she can for Charlie’s sake.”
“It makes me sick to think of what they’ll do to get her to talk.”
“She’d do anything for him, and he knows it. His rage feels like a scorching summer day from twenty feet away.”
“I almost hope they’re dead.”
“Sometimes….” Liz shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what we wish. We can’t change it by wishing. If it could be done, Charlie would’ve done it by now he’s been thinking so hard at the magic.”
Campbell glanced at his wristcomp in annoyance. “I better take this. He’s marked it urgent.”
“Tell Major Nelson I’m taking his advice and removing the magic from my lab but in the future, I’d appreciate a polite request before he enters it.”
Campbell saluted her and disconnected before she could respond.
Liz finished packing the boxes and debated a minute before tapping an icon on her wristcomp. “Camila, could you meet me in my lab? I have a favor to ask.
* * *
The commandant met with Liz. To the commandant’s shock, President Carmichael showed up at the meeting.