Dreams of Fire

by Christian Cura

  The page that arrested her attention showed a man standing in partial darkness with a ball of light in his hand. Above it was the heading “A Light in the Dark” in a bold serif. On the next page was an illustration that showed a sequence of hand gestures with corresponding phrases below each one.

  Charlotte began with her arms outstretched and palms faced outward; her thumbs and index fingers touching. She began reciting the spell as she moved through the gestures. Charlotte bent her middle fingers until they touched, then bent her wrists so that her ring fingers came together. Then straightened her wrists and rotated her palms outward and allowed her fingers to intersect one by one. With her fingers still crossed she turned her hands downward then faced her palms away again. Charlotte’s index fingers and middle fingers were laced together and her other fingers fanned out. She turned her palms to face toward her once again and bright sparks burst over her fingertips. That wasn’t quite right.

  She attempted the sequence several more times and each time, Charlotte either produced sparks or nothing at all. On her eighth try, Charlotte produced a tiny ball of light which immediately fizzled into nothing. So close. Charlotte groaned and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. This shit was hard. She took a deep breath and tried again.

  Charlotte cycled through the gestures meticulously and was careful to emphasize the right syllables with the correct gestures. Her eyes were glued to the page as she recited the spell with the utmost articulation. When she executed the last gesture and spoke the last phrase, a ball of bluish, white light burst into life before her eyes. Charlotte gasped with delight even as she shielded her eyes from the intense glow. “I did it! I did it, I did it!” she exclaimed as she punched both fists into the air.

  Suddenly her mother, Moira, came down the stairs and glared at her. Charlotte gasped as a cold weight dropped in her stomach. Her mother stood on the stairs, her face livid. “Charlotte Annabeth Grey! How many times have I told you? No magic!!” her mother shouted. She rushed down the stairs angrily then strode across the floor to the table where the spell book lay open. “Give me that book right now!” her mother demanded. The ball of light winked out as Charlotte shut the book and hugged it protectively.

  “No!” she yelled and turned away as her mother reached for the book. Charlotte angrily swatted Moira’s hand away.

  “You stubborn little girl!” her mother exclaimed. “I’ve told you over and over again you will NOT do magic! Ever! It’s a waste of time!”

  “What do you know? You flunked out of magic school! That’s why you’re stuck waiting tables at the diner!” she retorted.

  Moira’s eyes and mouth went wide with a silent rage as her daughter’s harsh words burned her like a brand. Moira grabbed her daughter and violently turned Charlotte to face her. She grabbed the book and ripped it out of her daughter’s arms. Then she hurled it across the room where it hit the wall and dropped to the floor. Charlotte’s eyes misted with tears as she went to retrieve the book. But her mother grabbed her arm and threw her back on the couch. “Don’t you dare!”

  Charlotte stood up again filled with fury. “Why? ‘Cause you’re afraid I’ll be a better mystic than you? Afraid I’ll make you feel like a failure?”

  Moira slapped her in the face.

  Charlotte’s cheek stung as tears trickled down her face. After a moment of disbelief and hurt, a dark rage fell over her. Ever since her magic began to manifest, her mother did everything she could to stamp it out. Rather than nurturing her talent, she tried to rip it away. Enough was enough.

  Charlotte turned and blasted her mother with a violent shockwave that bulldozed through the apartment. The very air rippled before her as her mother was hurtled backward and furniture was overturned. Couches flipped over, tables toppled to their side and framed photos were flung across the floor. Moira slammed into the wall then crumpled into a heap on the floor. The woman rolled to her back and groaned weakly. Charlotte’s anger lifted immediately when she saw her mother laying on the floor totally incapacitated. She didn’t mean to strike her mother so hard. She had no idea of the damage her magic could do. Charlotte looked around tearfully at the wrecked basement and gasped in astonishment. She was instantly ashamed as she beheld the upturned furniture and the broken tables. Moira struggled to rise and grimaced with the effort.

  “Mommy! I’m so sorry!” Charlotte cried as she rushed toward her mother. She reached out and tried to help her up but Moira shot her hand out in admonition.

  “No! Stay away!” Moira exclaimed with difficulty. “Stay away, you monster!”

  Charlotte was stunned by the reprimand. She recoiled from her mother’s hand with hot tears streaming down her cheeks. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to!” she said feebly. With great effort, Moira rose to her feet and drew herself up to her full height. She looked down at Charlotte with a cold stare.

  “You will clean up this mess, young lady. And then after that, you are grounded until I say otherwise.” she said in a dangerous tone. Moira glanced at the spell book which lay on the floor but dared not make a move to retrieve it. Then she turned and walked quietly up the stairs.

  Charlotte stood amidst the ruined furniture and sobbed in earnest now. She had not meant to hurt her mother so badly. She had not meant to cause such damage. She was just so angry when her mother slapped her! It was an impulse that overtook her before she could stop herself. Why did her mother have to be so harsh with her? Was it such a sin that she born with magic? Was it so wrong that Charlotte wanted to explore it?

  For an unmeasured length of time, Charlotte sobbed with her face in her hands. Nothing but the sound of her weeping kept her company as she knelt amidst the wrecked basement.

  When her tears finally subsided, Charlotte meekly went about and righted the furniture which had been knocked over. With her frail arms she heaved the couches and chairs up to their legs. She set the coffee table upright and replaced the books on top of it. Charlotte gathered the pieces of the broken chairs and put them in a pile against the wall. There was nothing she could do about it. She was no carpenter. Then she spotted the spell book which lay idle on the carpet. But what if there was something she could do about it? Charlotte walked across the room and lifted the tome from the floor. She flipped through the illuminated pages and scanned for any spells which involved repairs or regeneration. To her disappointment, she found nothing of the sort. Charlotte closed the book and glumly continued to clean up the mess she had made.

  When she was finished, Charlotte reverently slipped the book into her bag and carried it back up. She climbed the stairs and emerged into a silent house. Her mother would usually be making dinner at this time, but she heard no activity in the kitchen. Charlotte entered the living room and peered out the window. Her mother’s car was not in the driveway. She’s probably out getting drunk somewhere, Charlotte thought bitterly.

  She entered the kitchen and scrounged whatever leftovers she could from the fridge. Tonight, there were two slices of cold pizza and a stale quesadilla on her plate. Yum. Charlotte microwaved her food and ate quickly. Wherever her mother was, she did not want to be downstairs when she returned. After she gobbled up her last bite, Charlotte tossed her dirty plate in the sink then chugged a glass of milk. Then she retreated up to her room where she remained for the rest of the night.

  Kara Hartman 6 Years Ago

  The sun shone brightly on the Academy of Mystic Arts as Kara stood before a fountain in the Eastern Courtyard. In the gently rippling water, she could see the reflections of her classmates likewise standing around the basin. They stared at the water intently as their fingers moved in complex patterns. Their voices rolled over Kara’s ears incongruently as they each attempted to synchronize their vocal inflection with the hand gestures. As their magic flowed with varying degrees of success, the water before each student bubbled or sometimes spurted into the air and fell back down. Some students groaned with frustration before attempting the spell again. As they all practiced, Professor Stein walked about and observed
.

  Kara closed her eyes and tuned out everything. She brought her hands together and began to cycle through the gestures. She carefully spoke each syllable with their appropriate gesture and watched as the magic took effect. The water before her swirled into a tiny vortex and a liquid sphere rose out of the basin. It gleamed in the sunlight as it levitated up to Kara’s face.

  “Look! She’s doing it!” one of her classmates, Marcus, exclaimed. The other students paused in their practice and murmured in wonder. Professor Stein looked up stoically and saw the floating orb of water. “Very good Miss Hartman!” he said. “I hope you all strive to be as exceptional as your classmate.”

  As the other students resumed their practice, Kara morphed her sphere into other shapes: a cone, a pyramid, a cube. She then flattened it and extruded several arms from a central point. She tapped the liquid form and it froze into a palm-sized snowflake.

  “Show-off.” The girl next to her muttered.

  Kara only laughed and tossed the snowflake into the water. That is when she noticed the girl on the far side of the fountain. The pale, dark-haired girl missed the second to last gesture in the sequence and kept emphasizing the wrong syllables in the incantation. The water before her formed into a dome then instantly dissolved. The girl sighed and dropped her eyes to the ground. Kara walked around the fountain until she reached the girl. “You almost had it.” Kara said. “But you missed a few nuances. Here, just follow me.”

  Kara held her hands out and together and the girl mimicked her. She pronounced the spell slowly and cycled through the gestures as the girl followed along. Within a few moments, two orbs of water floated into the air before them.

  The girl smiled shyly. “Thank you.” she said.

  “You’re welcome. What’s your name?” Kara replied.

  “I’m Charlotte. Charlotte Grey.”

  “I’m Kara. Nice to meet you.” she extended her hand to her and Charlotte shook it gently.

  Kara Hartman 5 Years Ago

  One afternoon as classes let out of the Academy, Kara sat beneath a tree in the Western Garden with an open spell book laid on the ground before her. A cool autumn breeze blew her golden tresses across her face as she practiced a spell they had learned earlier that day. It was a Bloom Spell that was supposed to make a flower grow out of the soil. It was also her eighth attempt at it and she had not even been able to generate a flower bud, let alone a fully blooming flower. Kara was so used to being the best at everything magical. But today, she wasn’t. At the end of the sequence of gestures, she squeezed her left hand into a fist and cupped it at the bottom with her right hand. She slid her right hand up to her thumb then back down again. Still nothing. Kara sighed and leaned back against the tree. I guess every mystic has their off days, she thought to herself.

  Suddenly without warning, Charlotte popped out from behind the tree where she sat. “Hey, bestie!” she said cheerfully.

  Kara jumped in astonishment and nearly fell over on her side. “Stop doing that!” she exclaimed as she playfully shoved Charlotte.

  Her friend just laughed.

  “What’cha doin’?” she asked.

  “I’m trying to learn this new spell, but I’m just not getting it.” Kara replied.

  Charlotte gasped in feigned shock. “The great Kara Hartman having difficulties? Now I’ve seen it all.”

  Kara rolled her eyes and tried the spell again. When she finished the sequence this time, a tiny stalk burst up from the ground. Kara chuckled. “Well, that’s better than the last eight tries.”

  “There’s plenty of time for practice later, Kara.” said Charlotte. “It’s time for Friday night shenanigans!” she continued with a mischievous smile.

  “And what ‘shenanigans’ did you have in mind?” Kara asked.

  “The summoning an imp and unleashing it on the boys’ dorm kind!” her friend answered.

  Kara smiled. “That sounds too fun to pass up.” she replied.

  “We’re gonna need a spell book. To the library!” Charlotte exclaimed.

  Kara smiled and closed the spell book at her side. Then she ran after Charlotte who was already skipping toward the library. They made their way up winding paths that led through grassy swards and verdant bushes. In the gardens at either side of them, were statues of important magical figures that stood tall amid the greenery. Some were Council members, some warriors and still others were scholars. Kara could name every single one of them and recite their achievements like second nature. But at the moment, she was more focused on keeping up with Charlotte. She walked briskly under the shade of arching boughs that extended over the path. Kara shifted her spell book to one arm and closed her sweater. Charlotte, however, seemed unphased by the chill as she skipped and leaped ahead. Tiny beams of sunlight pierced through the dense canopy above them as they walked toward the gate. Charlotte glanced back at her and saw Kara falling behind. She halted and smiled at the edge of the shadow.

  “Pick up the pace, Hartman!” she bantered.

  Kara rolled her eyes and sighed. “All right, Grey!” she broke into a jog to catch up.

  “That’s more like it.”

  They exited the gate together and immediately entered an elegant courtyard. To their left was a fountain which levitated above a rippling basin. Sparkling jets of water sprang from every side and trickled softly into the basin below. Three other girls sat on a bench before the fountain and gossiped among themselves. Clusters of trees and bushes grew on either side of the courtyard and the massive library was nestled between them.

  The impressive structure towered above their heads and reached into the evening sky. Rays of sun fell upon the stony façade and gleamed against the tall, narrow windows. Kara and Charlotte climbed up wide marble steps and walked through a row of pillars which stood before a pair of mahogany doors. They silently swung open of their own accord as the two girls entered the library.

  Kara and Charlotte entered a spacious vestibule where they were greeted by two statues on either side of them. They stood frozen in shady alcoves carved into the wall as they passed beneath their blind stares. Then they came upon a massive lobby filled with rows of dark wood tables and leather chairs. At the far end of the hall stood several rows of bookshelves where a few solitary souls traipsed among the aisles. Before them was a massive circular desk with a marble countertop where an elderly librarian sat and quietly consulted with a student. The wide aisles of the upper levels were lined with countless more shelves and interspersed with study areas. The chairs and tables of the study areas were largely unoccupied. It was a Friday evening, after all.

  “This way!” Charlotte whispered excitedly. She briskly walked up a wide, majestic stairwell covered with a deep purple carpet. Its wooden banisters and railings were carved with animated floral patterns that grew and blossomed before their eyes. The wall to their right was adorned with immense friezes which illustrated important moments in magical history.

  Charlotte reached the landing with Kara in tow. They walked past several aisles before Charlotte turned suddenly into one of them. The aisle was labeled with the subject of Demonology. Leather-bound tomes lined the shelves on either side as Kara approached Charlotte from behind.

  “Keyword, imp.” Charlotte said. Immediately thirty relevant volumes lit up with a shimmering light. “Oh, God.” she muttered with a frown.

  “Let me try.” Kara said. “Key phrase, summoning imp.”

  The glow of the thirty books winked out and was replaced by the light of two.

  “Nice.” her friend said with a smile. They retrieved the two volumes from the shelf and carried them down to the front desk.

  Charlotte gave the two books to the librarian for processing. “Ah! Interested in summoning imps, I see.” said the elderly man. “Should I even ask what the pair of you intend to do with these books on a Friday night?”

  Charlotte giggled but made no reply.

  Kara only smiled.

  “That’s what I thought.” the librarian replied.
“These are due back in a week.”

  “Thank you!” Charlotte replied cheerfully. Then the two of them hurried back to their dorm.

  Kara and Charlotte entered their room where they immediately pored over the spell books. Kara sat at her desk and perused the volume while her friend sprawled out on her bed with the book open before her. Many of the spells they saw were beyond their skill to cast. They had to find something suitable for fledglings such as themselves.

  “Here’s something.” Kara said. Charlotte looked up with a bright gaze.

  “Oooh! Do tell!” she replied as she bounded up to Kara’s desk.

  “It’s really simple and doesn’t require any preparation.” she continued. Charlotte looked at the diagrams of the required hand gestures and grinned.

  “Let’s do it.”

  Kara and Charlotte rehearsed the spell several times without casting to make sure they could execute it. They stumbled a few times but ironed out their mistakes easily enough. Once they were perfectly synchronized, they cast the spell in earnest.

  The soft tingle of electricity raced down their arms as they cycled through the hand gestures. Kara and Charlotte spoke the incantation in unison as their magical energy churned deep inside them. Warm currents of magic swirled around the two girls and rippled the air in the room. Then a blue and white spark of light blazed before them and stretched into a shining column. At the base of the column, a small reptilian creature emerged through a rippling patch of space. Bat-like wings extended from its bony body and its gnarled fingers ended with sharp talons. A long, barbed tail coiled loosely around its clawed feet and two horns tapered back from its skull. It regarded the two girls with dark, beady eyes and tilted its head in curiosity.