Magic Underground: The Complete Collection (Magic Underground Anthologies Book 4)

by Melinda Kucsera

“I don’t know it, sorry.”

  Felix wasn’t surprised. This thing, whatever it was, seemed to be evolving.

  “Can I see you tomorrow?”

  “Sure. I have to work in the afternoon. Is the morning okay?”

  “Yeah. There’s this café right in the city centre, small place opposite a shopping centre.”

  “Near the plaza?”

  “That’s the one. Meet you there for coffee at about ten?”

  “Fine. I hope you get some sleep.”

  “You too.” Felix hung up and stared at the display, a dumb smile lingering on his lips. That fluttering was back in his stomach. He hadn’t felt like this in a long time. Amidst all this insanity he was touching emotions he had long forgotten. He dropped his phone and lay back on the bed his thoughts returning to his missing sister and the weird stuff he had seen.

  Sleep took hold of him against his will. He was utterly exhausted and couldn’t keep his eyes open.

  Ragged Edge downed the last of his black coffee and wiped his lips with the back of his hand to catch the droplets that had caught in his bristles. It had been a long night of work repairing the hole in the veil and he was feeling the effects of no sleep. Every muscle ached and his mind felt foggy.

  “You need to take it easy, old man.” Mjolnir nudged Ragged Edge in the shoulder as he passed by. He let out a throaty chuckle. Ragged Edge grunted in reply.

  “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

  “Warden wants us to find that human.”

  “I thought she might. Two words spring to mind. Needle and haystack.”

  “We’ll need help.” Mjolnir poured a mug of coffee from the pot and began sipping it, his bright eyes watching Ragged Edge. They were standing in the small kitchen of Ragged Edge’s house. It was a small terraced building in the heart of Old Town. It was all narrow passages, low ceilings and exposed beams. It wasn’t much but he had owned it for forty years and it was home. He nodded and stepped out of the kitchen into the narrow hallway. Mjolnir followed him. Ragged Edge moved towards the front door and just before he reached it, he stepped across the veil between the human world and Hepethia. It was a step he had taken hundreds of thousands of times in his life. Mjolnir was a second behind him.

  In Hepethia, his house was recreated almost exactly as it appeared in the human world and the two of them kept walking down the hall towards the door as if nothing had happened. Ragged Edge flung the door open and stepped into the dazzling sunlight of the garden. There were high walls around the tidy little outdoor space and no gate. There was a neatly paved rectangle around the edge of the garden surrounding an empty bed of freshly turned soil. Ragged Edge moved into the middle of the garden and used his staff to draw a circle in the soil. Mjolnir stood by the door, his arms crossed over his chest, watching with a stern expression on his face.

  Ragged Edge moved into the centre of the circle and thrust his staff into the soft earth deep enough for it to stand up on its own. He raised his palms to the sky, which was filled with dark, rolling clouds. All around the edge of the garden little movements rippled out from the edge of the circle. Wisps of air given form, little motes of anxiety and apprehension moved like eddies in the current of air moving up the high walls and away from the ritualist. Ragged Edge focused his thoughts on clearing the area of malevolent forces, pushing them away with his thoughts. The garden was cleared of every hint of spiritual activity and a faint blue light rose up from the circle in the earth to form a dome over Ragged Edge. He lowered his hands and shook away the tingle that had crept into his fingers.

  He cleared his throat and knelt, placing his palms against the cool soil. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers slightly under the loose topsoil. He deepened his breathing and directed his attention to the fae that served him - those of earth and growth. Tiny sprouts of green appeared at his fingertips, breaking up through the ground in little, jerky movements, like a time lapse film of growing plants. They wound their way around his fingers and up his hands, twisting around his wrists.

  “Hello, my old friends. I need your help in finding a human who somehow entered Hepethia last night. Do you know of the incident?”

  “We do,” the shoots whispered back. Their gentle voices a light chorus on the breeze. “All beings here felt it. It was an unprecedented breach.”

  “Are you able to trace him?”

  “No, we can’t sense him now. He is back in the human world, where he belongs.”

  “But can you use your eyes in the human world to locate him?”

  “He is a city dweller, he is beyond our reach. You would do better to talk to our construct kin.”

  “Come on now, we both know how this will play out. We’ve danced this dance a thousand times. You can reach out through the fae and construct network to find out what I need to know. I’ll expect an update in one hour.”

  There was a flutter as the tiny, green leaves twitched all over his hands. Then, as quickly as they had sprouted, the shoots receded, unwinding from his hands and disappearing back into the earth. Ragged Edge stood up, his knees clicking as he did so. He brushed the dirt off his baggy jeans then raised his hands over his head and waved away the dome. It disintegrated in a shower of blue sparks. Mjolnir was leaning in the doorway and he pushed himself away from the wall and looked at Ragged Edge expectantly.

  “Well?”

  “We’ll see what they find. I have a funny feeling about this, though.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  Ragged Edge grabbed his staff and yanked it up out of the ground. He kicked the soil over the track he had made, hiding the circle.

  “Over a century with The Watch and I’ve never known anything like this happen,” Ragged Edge said, shaking his head. He stomped onto the paving and kicked the dirt off his boots. “Come on. Let’s see what we can find out over there.” He led Mjolnir back across the veil into the human world.

  Felix cradled his hot coffee between his trembling palms. The café was bustling around him, alive with normality. Cups clinked, the coffee machine bubbled behind the counter, people chatted noisily, blissfully ignorant of the bizarre events of the previous day. Felix could feel the passenger in his brain now, distinct from him but also a part of him. He was like a second head on his shoulder, muttering, chuckling and nodding with approval. It made Felix feel sick and dizzy. He gulped his coffee, hoping that the caffeine would deaden the strange sensation.

  Part of him wanted the thing out of his head, to be left alone to go back to normal life. But he also knew he would never find Julie without help and this thing seemed to want to help him. It had helped him to get away from the weird creatures and get back to his own world.

  The bell over the door jingled and Felix glanced up to see if it was Emma. It wasn’t her. He looked back into his steaming cup, frustration mounting. He had only just met her; he was being ridiculous. She had been kind to him. It had been a long time since anyone but Julie had been kind. He was a sucker. The bell rang again and this time when Felix looked up it was Emma. She smiled right at him, beaming. He felt as though a ray of sunlight had burst from behind a heavy cloud to shine on his face. He stood up and returned her smile as best he could. She made her way between the packed tables to reach him and he drew her into his arms for a firm hug. He needed physical contact, he craved it in a way he had rarely known before.

  “Hey there,” she said, patting him on the back. He released her and they sat down opposite each other. “Sorry I’m late. The traffic was mental.”

  “It’s okay. How are you?”

  “Fine. How are you doing?” She looked into his eyes intently, her expression was full of empathy. “Any word from your sister?”

  “I spoke to her on the phone last night.”

  “You did? That’s great news.”

  “Maybe. She was afraid, she wanted my help. But I have no idea how to help her. I can’t find her, I can’t get to her at all. I tried.”

  “Right. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you. What y
ou asked made me uncomfortable.”

  “I’m really sorry about that.”

  “Did you get into trouble?”

  “No, not really. I don’t know that there’s anyone to fight over this really.”

  “That’s good, Felix,” the voice inside his head purred.

  “No, probably not. It is odd, though. Where did you say she lives?”

  “St. Catherine’s.”

  “I don’t know it at all.”

  “Have you always lived in Caerton?”

  “Born and raised here, in Burnside. My dad’s an accountant and his business is there. I left when I enlisted and came straight back when I got back from my last deployment.”

  “Don’t you think it’s funny that you haven’t heard of St. Catherine’s?”

  “Maybe.” Emma shrugged. A waitress appeared beside the table and Emma ordered herself a coffee. Felix ordered a refill.

  “Excuse me,” Felix said to the waitress. “Do you know where the number six bus goes from here?” He indicated the street outside where there was a row of bus stops. The waitress frowned and looked out through the large window at the front of the little café.

  “It’s not one I catch often. I used to take it to see my boyfriend.” She frowned even more deeply.

  “Is it St. Catherine’s?” Felix asked.

  “Where?” The waitress looked down at him quizzically.

  “Never mind.” She turned and went back behind the counter to make their coffee. “See? You aren’t the only one. It’s not that you haven’t heard of it. You’ve forgotten it even exists. So has she.”

  “Why haven’t you?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe because I tried to get there and have been obsessing about it. It’s held it in my memory.” He decided not to mention the weird hole in reality and crossing into another realm. He wasn’t quite ready to have Emma decide he was nuts. But that was the real reason, he suspected, for his retained memories. The horrible sickness had also stopped happening whenever he thought about the missing area. Other people didn’t seem to be getting sick or disoriented now either. It was definitely evolving, whatever this phenomena was.

  “That makes sense. What happened when you tried going there?”

  “I couldn’t get there. I got dizzy and turned around. I couldn’t even get close enough to see what was there.” That was half true. Before he had forced himself to press on up the alley, when he had got magically transported back to the previous street he hadn’t been close enough to see what was there in the place of the missing streets. He had to assume that other people were experiencing the same thing as him.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea.” He dropped his head into his hands and ran them through his thick hair. He stared down into his almost-empty cup. Emma’s cool fingers wrapped around his forearm and squeezed. He looked up into her big eyes. “Why are you being so kind to me? You hardly know me.”

  “Because it’s the right thing to do.” She released his arm and gave a shrug. The waitress reappeared with their coffees and Felix eagerly drank, feeling the hot, bitter liquid wash down his tense throat. Emma added sugar to hers and sipped slowly, her eyes glancing over at him from under her long lashes. Felix hated the conflicting feelings raging inside him. Why had he had to meet Emma now? Amid all of this madness? He was hardly making the best impression. That said, he had been an utter mess before all of this started and in some ways had been able to pull himself together.

  “Thank you,” he said, a slight lump in his throat.

  “Don’t get distracted, my dear boy,” his passenger said softly. “You have a mission.”

  “Where would you start if you were looking for a lost part of the city?” he asked Emma.

  “I honestly have no idea. I guess I’d try to get there, like you did. I’d try to contact people who live there, like you did. I guess there’s no point calling the police.”

  “No,” Felix replied with a snort of laughter. The police would be useless in this situation, it was hardly their remit. Felix had shot a man, so it probably wasn’t ideal to get the police looking into his life. He didn’t imagine that the thing he had shot last night would report the incident. How could it be explained? “I’m going to go back there. Will you come with me?”

  “Okay, sure. I have to work later though.”

  “No problem. It won’t take long. Where do you work?” He chugged back his coffee, eager to get going.

  “At a call centre. It’s the dullest thing I’ve ever done.” She let out a chuckle. He cracked a smile in response. Her laugh was sweet. “Come on, let’s get on with this.” She finished her drink quickly and Felix went to the counter to pay the bill. They left the café together and stepped into the cool street. Traffic rushed by on the busy road. Felix looked over his shoulder and saw a number six bus approaching. He grabbed Emma’s hand and ran to the bus stop. Emma gasped when he tugged her along and he heard her giggling behind him as they ran. They got to the stop where a small queue waited for the bus. He released her hand and gave her an apologetic smile. She laughed and gave his shoulder a gentle shove. The bus pulled up at the kerb and people began to mount it. On the front, its destination was a street in Old Town. Felix knew that wasn’t where it ought to be going, he knew he had caught this bus many times and gone right into St. Catherine’s. As he stepped up onto the bus he caught the driver’s eye.

  “Has this route changed recently?”

  “Nope. Same as always,” the driver said, her voice unconcerned.

  Felix glanced beside him at Emma and cocked an eyebrow.

  “Two returns, please.” He paid for their tickets and Emma led the way up to the back of the bus where there were a couple of empty seats. It was otherwise full.

  “This is so strange,” Emma whispered.

  “It really is. Wait until we get there.”

  The bus rumbled away up the street. It left the city centre and crossed the river into Old Town. It wound its way off the main road and up a couple of smaller streets before reaching its final destination. Everyone that hadn’t already left the bus got up to disembark. Felix led Emma onto the street, and they waited while the little crowd dispersed. The bus sat idling at the kerb for a minute, before the doors closed and it moved away slowly towards a large turning circle at the end of the street. It sped past again on its way back to the city centre.

  Felix crossed the road and led Emma towards where he had found the hole. It was a short walk and the streets were quiet. They walked in uncomfortable silence. Felix didn’t know what he could possibly say. He was curious to see if they would both get turned around, or just her. He glanced down at her hand and took hold of it again, more gently this time. “Is this okay?”

  “Fine with me,” she replied, not looking up at him. They walked briskly, crossing a busier street and heading up the side street that led to the hole. This was about where he had got turned around yesterday. He felt the rise of pressure on his head but kept a tight hold of Emma’s hand. He looked at her and saw her squinting and scrunching up her face.

  “Are you okay?”

  “No! What is that?” She stopped and released his hand, pressing both of her palms to her temples. She staggered backwards and then disappeared.

  “Emma!” Felix felt the colour drain from his face. He ran back the way they had come and searched the street for her. Cars sped by, people rushed about their business. “Emma!” He set off across the road and back to the narrow street that ran down the back of the museum. That was where he had reappeared the previous day. Sure enough, just past the back door of the museum, Emma stood shaking her head and rubbing her eyes. He sprinted towards her and grabbed hold of her shoulders. He pulled her close to him and she didn’t protest.

  “I’m all right.” Her voice shook slightly. “Where are we?”

  “At the back of the museum.” He glanced towards the closed fire door and gently led her away from it, wary of being spotted by those creatures. “You vanished
right in front of my eyes.”

  “What? I don’t understand.” She shook her head and looked vaguely past him up the alley.

  “It happened to me yesterday. You’re okay. I’m right here with you.”

  “Felix, I don’t like this.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know if that would happen or not. It didn’t affect me this time. I still got the crushing pressure in my head, but I didn’t disappear and ping back. Come on. Let’s try again. I’ll keep hold of you. You have to really fight it.” He took her hand again and jogged back to the vanishing point, stopping just before where the weird stuff started. He looked up the street and saw only more street, no hole, no blank space. “What do you see up ahead?”

  “Just the street.”

  Felix gripped her hand tighter and walked slowly away from the busy road. He could feel her pulling back and he stopped and took hold of her shoulders. On an impulse he leaned down and kissed her hard on the lips. She tensed up with the shock of it at first but as he intensified the kiss, moving her lips with his she softened and sank into it. Her hands went to his shoulders and their tongues met. Felix’s hands drifted up into her wild hair. She smelled like strawberries and tasted of coffee. He was crazy about her. He pressed his body against hers and kept kissing her, even though he could feel the world spinning around them. He didn’t know what would happen when they opened their eyes, or where they would be, but in that moment he didn’t care. All he cared about was showing her how he felt about her. He lifted her off her feet and held her tight as he took a few steps backwards, towards where he had found the hole in the world. He wasn’t thinking about it, but the other consciousness inside his head was.

  Chapter Two

  The small office was crammed full of half unpacked boxes, shelves of peculiar artefacts and a cluttered desk covered in papers. Not to mention the six shifters crammed into what little space was left. Warden-of-Stones was perched on the edge of the desk, her arms folded tightly across her chest.