Awakened Spells Box Set

by Logan Byrne

  “I know. We don’t have any mortal money,” he said.

  “Then why didn’t you remind me?” I asked.

  “Funnier not to,” he said, smiling, and I rolled my eyes.

  “Charlie,” I said, stopping him, as I stood there and looked at a woman hobbling around her shop. It was dark inside, the light seeming to skip her space. She stopped too, turning around to look at us. She stared at me, a small smile on her face, before she motioned at us with her finger. She slipped into the shadows, and my intrigue grew.

  “We aren’t going in there, Lexa,” Charlie said.

  “There’s something about her, I know it,” I said.

  “Lexa, this is insane. We aren’t going into a dark shop with a creepy hunch-backed woman covered in warts. Haven’t you ever read Hansel and Gretel? We’re going to end up in some oven!” Charlie whispered frantically.

  “I’m going in,” I said, before walking towards the shop.

  “Lexa, don’t you dare!” he whispered loudly as I walked inside. “Damnit!” he said, before running and following me in.

  The shop was dark inside, as if it were night. I looked behind us at the market outside brimming with life, before I walked towards the back of the shop. “I was wondering when I’d run into another of your kind,” a shrill voice said.

  “Who’s there?” I asked, before the woman walked out from behind her counter.

  “You are the one,” she said, walking up to me and grabbing my hand. “Yes, I can feel it inside you, I can,” she said, giggling a little.

  “Who are you?” Charlie asked.

  “My name isn’t important, child. You possess the mark, that much is very true,” the woman said, swaying back and forth.

  I snatched back my hand. “What are you talking about?” I asked defensively.

  “Don’t be scared, child, I’m not going to hurt you or tell those who seek to hunt you. I would never betray my kind,” she said, walking over and reaching behind her counter. She pulled out a wand, the wood old and slightly rotted, before presenting it to me. “You see, I’m like you.”

  “What is this nonsense about the mark, though? Why would you ask such a thing?” I asked.

  “I can smell it on you, my dear. I have met many who possess such raw power, but you are different, that much is true. You are the girl, the one who will bring peace from the grip of suffering,” she said. I looked her straight in the eyes and listened to her voice. Her tone was true, and her voice didn’t falter. She was telling the truth, at least in her mind, and for some very odd reason, I trusted her.

  “How?” Charlie asked.

  “You will be the one to wield the crystal wand. Only then will he fall,” she said, cackling slightly.

  “I don’t know what that is,” I said, confused.

  “Only she who is descended from Merlin will be able to possess the wand he left behind. Fight the golems, and it shall be yours. Should you fail, his evil will multiply, and your worlds will fall,” she said, before floating backwards.

  The darkness started to twirl around us, the light from outside mixing within, as sparks erupted and everything disappeared. The entire shop, the darkness, and the woman inside were all gone. I looked around us, and we were standing in an alleyway connecting to the market. I stared at Charlie like I’d seen a ghost. “Was that real?” I asked.

  “I’ve come to question if anything in our realm is real, Lexa. If you’re asking if I saw the woman and the dark shop, the answer is yes,” he said.

  “What did she mean? Was she talking about him?” I asked, referring to Kiren.

  “I don’t think you should put too much stock into what some ghostly old hag had to say. Right now we have a different mission, and we need to see it through,” Charlie said, before picking his bag up from the ground. “Come on, let’s go.”

  After spending our afternoon in Marrakech, Charlie and I left the mortal city and retreated back to the oasis, mainly on account of his stomach. “You really need to learn to bring your snacks when we go out,” I said, as we walked to a café near our motel.

  “I can’t help it, I have to eat! I am part big cat, after all. Cut me some slack,” he said, his hands in his pockets, as I pulled out money for the waiter.

  “I’ll have the vegetarian platter,” I said, handing him fifty copper coins.

  “The meat selection, please. I’m a jaguar, so don’t skimp on me,” Charlie said sternly, as if this man lived to make his life unpleasant.

  “Here,” I said, handing him another sixty copper coins. “Thank you.”

  “Our money is weird, isn’t it?” Charlie asked, sipping the iced water the waiter brought us when we sat down.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “All these coins, it’s highly inefficient. The mortals do a better job. Did you know they have these things, plastic cards, that have all their money on them? Imagine that, never having to lug around a sack of coins again,” he said.

  “Ours is fine. Maybe we could have some paper money, but it’s worked for thousands of years,” I said.

  “Yeah, that’s the point. It’s been around that long, and it’s due for an overhaul,” he said.

  Magical money was a bit antiquated, but it worked. The coins were made of metals with actual value, like copper, silver, and gold. One hundred copper in a silver coin, and one hundred silvers in a gold coin. Sure, making change was a bit of a mess—but who was I kidding, Charlie was right. Mortals did have it figured out.

  “Here are your dishes. Enjoy,” the waiter said, coming back just minutes later with our food.

  “Good enough for you?” I asked, looking at Charlie’s massive pile of turkey legs and chicken wings.

  “Amazing,” he said, before shifting and tearing into his meal. That was the thing about eating with Charlie—whenever we were in the magical realm, he always insisted on eating in his jaguar form. He said it was easier to eat, and he could process food better, but I think he just wanted to hide under the excuse of being an animal.

  “What do you think that lady meant earlier?” I asked, before popping a piece of falafel with tzatziki sauce in my mouth.

  “You’re still on that?” he asked, rolling his eyes. “The lady was out of her mind, if she was even really there.”

  “You said you saw her, you can’t deny it,” I said.

  “Yeah, but maybe it was one of those shared visions, like you can do with dreams. I don’t know, Lexa, the entire thing just seems a bit weird. I’ve never even heard of a crystal wand, have you? It sounds made up,” he said.

  “I’d never heard of what we’re hunting now, either. Just because you aren’t aware of something doesn’t mean it isn’t real, Charlie. Besides, she knew about my special thing,” I said, leaning in and whispering the last part.

  “I’ll give you that one, it was a bit weird. I just wouldn’t get too excited, I guess. You don’t need some special wand to win in battle, and you aren’t an heir to Merlin,” he said.

  “I might be,” I said, picking around my couscous.

  “If it helps you sleep at night,” he said, before shifting back into his human form and sinking back in his chair. “That was good.”

  “I need you to do some research for me,” I said to Faus on the phone later that night.

  “More?” he asked, sighing.

  “I promise this will be worth your time, trust me,” I said.

  “Fine, what do you need?” he asked. “Just know that I have a lot going on, so I can’t get to it right away unless it’s an emergency.”

  “No, no, it’s not an emergency. Look up references to a crystal wand. Something about Merlin crafting it and hiding it somewhere,” I said.

  “I remember reading something about it a long time ago, but it’s mostly lost on me now,” he said, as I heard him tapping on his desk.

  “So it’s real?” I asked, excited.

  “Well, it’s hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t with fables. All I remember was something about gu
ardians there to protect it so that only those who meet some requirements may pass, or something like that. I’ll try to search for more information on it, though. The library would have some references,” Faus said.

  “Thanks, you’re the best. Talk to you soon,” I said, before hanging up the phone.

  Giddy, I lay back, watching the ceiling fan spinning slowly as a layer of sweat glistened on my body. I closed my eyes, imagining the scenes, me versus Kiren, as I wielded the one wand that would vanquish him back to the depths of darkness. It was something out of a storybook—the young witch who possessed the mark of Merlin. Descended from him, she was the first to find the wand, using its powers to vanquish darkness and evil.

  “Looks like we have something,” Charlie said, looking at his phone.

  “What?” I asked, perking up, the visions of glory fading from my imagination.

  “Pote sent us a mission for while we’re sitting here before our flight. She wants us to find somebody, a woman who’s crucial to the resistance,” he said, showing me the message.

  “She’s not saying why this woman is so important,” I said.

  “Would she ever? You know the way she is. All she said is to find her, and then they would send people to come take her back to the camp. Here’s a picture,” he said, scrolling down and showing me the photo.

  She was beautiful, her skin tanned with a faint sea of freckles across her nose. Her eyes were the lightest shade of green, and her hair was chocolate brown. She looked young, maybe our age, maybe younger. “Should we go?” I asked, sitting up in my bed.

  “I guess it’s better than sitting around,” Charlie said, walking towards the door.

  “I wish we had more information to go by, this place is actually sort of huge,” I said an hour and a half later as Charlie and I leaned against a sandstone building near our motel.

  I burned the image of the girl in my head, scanning every person who walked by. Charlie shifted only his eyes, trying to catch a glimpse, but it was no use. If we had a scent to go by, he could find her in an instant, but all we had was a small picture and light description. It wasn’t going to be easy.

  “Wait,” I said, nudging Charlie. “That kind of looks like her, in the eyes.”

  “Yeah, it kind of does,” he muttered. The girl was a hundred or two feet away, her head and face masked by a scarf, only her eyes peeking out. She looked paranoid, constantly watching her surroundings, as she walked cautiously down the road.

  “I think she’s being followed,” I said.

  “You don’t think she realizes we’re watching her, do you?” he asked.

  “No, look,” I said, pointing to two men behind her who looked awfully suspicious. They gained a little distance on her, sticking to the sides of the buildings. “I think we need to intervene.”

  “Of course we do,” Charlie said, shifting. “I’ll take the rooftops, you work down here.” He scaled the sandstone wall, using his thick, sharp claws to dig into the crumbling stone. I took out my wand and joined the hunt.

  One of the men’s hands shifted, an obvious werewolf, as the other pulled out a wand. His was black, a smooth design with a notch at the bottom. I jumped in front of the girl. “Arma Maximus!” I yelled, barricading us both in behind my shield.

  “W-what? Who are you?” she asked, panicked.

  “I’m here to help you,” I said, as she stumbled backwards.

  “Eruptico!” the wizard yelled, his spell battering my shield. He incanted it again, and a third time, before my shield started to crack and break. With a new breath, he said it once more, smiling, and the spell shattered my shield, the bright flash making me shield my eyes as it blinded me for a quick second.

  “Not my partner!” Charlie roared, before jumping off the rooftop and tackling the werewolf. He shifted, though his werewolf form was different from Blake’s, with mangy black fur and slightly yellowed teeth. He was snarling, spit sticking to his fangs, as he tried to bite Charlie, who was overpowering him for now, at least.

  “Get the girl!” the werewolf shouted at the wizard.

  “It will be okay,” I said, turning around, but the girl was gone. I saw her running away, looking back in panic, stumbling as she tried to get as far away from the situation as possible.

  “Dormio!” the wizard yelled, but my wand quickly moved and defended me on its own, slapping the spell away. “Rigormorio!” he yelled, but the wand protected me once again before I could react.

  “Nice work,” I muttered, smiling, before looking at the ground in front of him. “Eruptico!” I yelled, blasting the ground, and a whirlwind of sand exploded in front of him. I ran after the girl, yelling for her to stop, before looking back and seeing the wizard run through the dust cloud after me.

  He shot off bolts, each one whizzing past my head, as my side started to hurt from the sudden exercise after my meal earlier. “I need to hit the gym more,” I mumbled to myself, before gaining distance on the girl.

  She turned a corner, into an alleyway, and I ran in after. “Obscurio,” I said, masking myself, as she hit a dead end and turned around. I could see the panic in her eyes as she clawed the wall, trying to climb it, but to no avail.

  “Well, it looks like you hit the end of the road,” the wizard said, huffing and puffing as he came around the corner and blocked her exit from the alley.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” she asked, starting to cry.

  “Your abilities are required by our master, and what he wishes is my command,” he said, inching closer with a dastardly grin on his smug face.

  “Please, no,” she begged, as he came closer.

  “Rigormorio!” I yelled, my Obscurio fading away as my bolt hit him straight in the chest. He seized up, his eyes wide, as he gasped for air before falling to the ground. I turned around, seeing the girl crying, huddled up in a ball against the sandstone wall. “Come with me.”

  “Who are you?” she asked, as I walked her out of the alleyway. She sniffled, her hands trembling, before Charlie ran up and shifted back into his human form.

  “We’re with the resistance,” I whispered to her. “They’re coming to take you to safety,” I said, patting her back.

  “Thank you,” she said, grabbing me and hugging me. She sobbed, squeezing harder, and we walked away. The Rigormorio on that wizard wasn’t going to last forever.

  “We’ll take it from here,” two mages said an hour later, as we stood outside the hut that led to the oasis.

  “Will I see you again?” she asked, turning back to me.

  “If you stay with the resistance, then yes, you will. We can talk more then,” I said, smiling.

  “Thank you, thank you both for helping me. I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you,” she said, a tear running down her cheek, before all three of them teleported back to the camp.

  “Well, that was nice,” Charlie said.

  “We need to make sure the duskhowlers are taken care of,” I said, tapping my wand to go back through the wooden door to the oasis.

  “You’d think they’d know to just pack it in and give up. After all, we’re the very best team out there. Who do they think they are, challenging us?” Charlie asked, laughing, as we walked into the portal.

  “We’re definitely a storm they need to take shelter from, that’s for sure,” I said, smiling.

  4

  The plane wobbled as the gnome drove it out from the shelter it hid under. The sun shimmered on the sparse chrome pieces, the engine making a slight knocking sound, before it came to a creaking stop on the dirt runway.

  “And you’re sure you want to do this? I bet we can find some other way to get down there,” Charlie said, twiddling his thumbs. He was nervous, sure, and so was I, a little, but I didn’t see any other way. We needed to get to Nairobi, and we couldn’t take mortal planes or transportation without their money. Our only option was this rinky-dink little plane, and well, we had to take what we could get in the middle of a vast desert.

  “We’ll be fine,
I promise. If anything happens, I’ll Levio us down to safety,” I said, smiling, before patting him on the shoulder.

  “Wait, if anything goes wrong? Oh, god,” he moaned, trembling. Charlie brought the term scaredy-cat a whole new meaning.

  “We’ll be leaving in fifteen minutes. Don’t mind the knocking noise, it always does that,” the gnome said, after hopping out of the cockpit and walking to her little hut.

  “Do you hear that, Lexa? It always does that,” Charlie said, as we walked towards the plane.

  “Stop being a sissy and get yourself ready. We have a long trip ahead of us,” I said.

  “A long trip is seven hours. This is fourteen. This is a voyage, as far as I’m concerned,” he said, with his arms crossed. “I don’t get why you can’t teleport us there.”

  “Because I don’t know where I’m going, and that isn’t safe. Without a portal, which I can’t conjure by myself, we’re stuck taking a plane. You’re a big boy, you can deal with it,” I said.

  Ten minutes passed before the gnome walked back over, opening her cockpit door and climbing inside. “You guys can get in, there’s nobody else coming.”

  The door squeaked as I opened it. The interior was cracked and tattered and the seats were narrow and hard. I got inside, taking a seat up front, before tossing my pack beside me. Charlie came after, closing the door behind him, struggling to close it as the latch didn’t catch and he nervously tried to slam it shut a couple of times.

  “Yeah, it does that. Just use this,” the gnome said, reaching back and sliding a thin metal lock in place to hold it together.

  Charlie stared at me, completely un-amused, before I giggled a little as beads of sweat ran down my forehead. I fanned myself with my hand, trying to cool down. The plane was a beacon for the desert sun’s punishing rays. “Are we ready back there? Time for takeoff,” the gnome said.

  “Ready,” I said, as Charlie fumbled to sit down. He panicked, grabbing the seat belt and struggling to clasp it in, so I reached over and did it for him.