by Holly Hook
He flinched. I was getting closer. That was what he was afraid of, not so much the fact that I had to bite people now in order to live.
"Well, three are woken up completely. The fourth one is full access to my War Magic. The fifth...I don't know. That's what worries me."
"I don't know what it even is," I said. I wanted to stop having this conversation for some reason. "If we play careful, we won't have to find out. That's why I need to call Janine and let her know to send Mack out here."
"That guy creeps her out."
"She'll send George, then," I said. I got out her phone, which she had let me borrow. It took me a long time to navigate it and figure out how to actually place a call.
Janine picked up right away. She was up late.
"Hey," she said.
"You still sound a bit sick," I said.
"I think I'm feeling better," she told me. "I had a good meal not too long ago. George cooked steaks. Extra rare. They actually tasted pretty good."
"I'm glad you ate," I said.
"So, I take it you got away from the chase. They're baffled and they can't find you."
"I knew you'd see it on the news," I said. "No one's around George's house, tapping our call, are they?"
"They don't know about George or my phone. You're talking on a new one I bought this week. I don't trust the government especially now that I know about Thoreau."
She sounded peppy and I breathed out a sigh of relief that I was sure she could hear. Janine definitely sounded like she was feeling better. I had gotten all worked up over nothing.
"We're well out of Cumberland," I said. I told Janine exactly where we were and which exit we had gotten off on. She gasped when she realized we were so far out of town. "I don't think we'll be able to get back in for a while. We need Mack to come out to us. If he refuses, tell him that this is necessary for me to get to Death and place his request." I wasn't sure if this would lead me back to her, but I had to try this. I was willing to bet Thoreau might be waiting inside that bunker or he had placed some other Dark Council members there. Death might even be included, even though she was the least likely one with her supposed neutral attitude. The story she would see, though, might make it worth it for her.
Mack had helped us. It was only right to grant his request to not be a Dark Mage anymore. I sympathized with that.
"I'll head out there with George," Janine said. "The guy is creepy."
"I know he is. But we can't go back to Cumberland unless we're in disguise," I said. That also meant repairing the windows but we couldn't just take this van to a shop. I wondered if Dark Magic had the ability to repair things. So far, I hadn't seen any magic that could. War Magic could only hurt and kill. Xavier had even told me some considered it dark for that reason.
Janine got off the phone with me and all we could do was wait. The night was getting older and the waxing moon was now slowly sinking toward the horizon. I hoped that Mack got us disguised well before the sun came up. If that happened, I'd have no choice but to ride in the back of the van, even with a glamour over me. It might put a dent in our plan.
While we were waiting, Xavier and I got out and walked around on the beach a bit, which was closed. The two agents were still locked inside the van and after about fifteen minutes of stretching our legs, we went back and threw them in some food. The woman accepted the burger we gave her and the man was reluctant to eat at first. He glared at me like I was trying to fatten him up. In a sense, I was. Depending on how long this took, he could be my victim later.
The woman's weak condition kept them from trying to escape. The man wouldn't leave without the woman. It was obvious they might be a couple. We had that to our advantage.
Xavier asked them if they had to go to the bathroom but the woman was thirsty and the man shook his head. She slurped down her entire large drink without any other cares.
"Try to sleep," I told them. "I promise, we're not going to kill either one of you."
"How are we supposed to believe that?" the man asked.
I closed the door. There was nothing to make them believe me. Xavier and I walked around the beach some more until we heard a beat-up car crunching and groaning towards us from the road. I tensed and removed my sword from my belt but then I smelled something like a cold cave. It was the scent of a Dark Mage.
Mack parked next to us in an old, beat-up Honda that must have come from the junkyard he managed. Mack was wearing a tank top and regular jeans today. Besides the black flecks in his brown eyes, he looked like a Normal. Due to being a Dark Mage, Mack lived the life of a hermit kind of how George did. Dark Mages always gravitated towards evil, which was the reason Mack hadn't endangered people by being their friend. He was ready to have a future. The look in his eyes was desperate.
"So you still haven't met with Death," Mack said, leveling a glare at me.
"Not yet," I lied. "We just might be able to. I think she could be hanging out with Thoreau and that Thoreau is in that bunker they're taking all the Abnormals to."
"That makes sense to me," Mack said. "If they're ready to end the world, she'll be there. All the Dark Council members must be gathering."
"We've met four," I said. "You don't want to know who the newest one is. She wasted twelve armed ATC agents."
"Sounds like someone Thoreau would want in his circle," Mack said. "Everyone who knows the truth about the mayor knows he doesn't care about the people who work for him."
"He sure doesn't," I said. "Now, we can't be wasting time on catching up with each other. Can you glamour us to look like two ATC agents?"
Mack thought. "I believe I might be able to," he said. "I once glamoured myself to look like a celebrity. I scored an easy date that way. Of course, I couldn't continue the relationship, but I sure had some fun."
"Which celebrity?" Xavier asked, interested.
"Just an actor," Mack said. "I was able to grab a hair of his while waiting for an autograph. I won't say who it was, but the glamour brought me more trouble that it was worth. It's amazing how people swarm celebrities when they so much as sneeze. Don't ever do it."
"How long did your disguise last?" I asked.
"Mine lasted for six hours. I'm guessing that if I glamour two people, it might last for three. It requires a lot of magic and it would have to be split between the two of you. And by the way, our agreement still stands. You ask Death to remove my Dark Magic and we will be forever even."
"What if we don't find Death?" I asked. "It's no guarantee that she'll be there but we'll do our best to find her."
"Then you will try again," Mack said with a dark look on his face. "And again, if you need to."
"We will," I promised.
Mack circled around the van and stood at the back door. "Did you pluck some hairs from the agents?" he asked.
"I did when I was feeding them," Xavier said, pulling a hair from each pocket. "The short one belongs to the man, obviously. Don't mix them up, please."
I laughed, even though this wasn't the time to do it. Mack took the two hairs, one in each hand, and walked away from the van to the open beach. "We'll be lucky if we don't get caught down here," he said. "The rite is going to take some time. It's a good thing there's a lake here. The prep alone is time consuming. I'm sorry about that."
"It's fine," I said.
Mack got out a plastic baggie and dropped the two hairs inside. He stuffed it into his pocket and asked that we didn't look as he bathed in the lake. He said that this part was to purify himself before a rite. Xavier and I went around and stood on the other side of the van while Mack went to do what he had to do. Xavier explained that this was a normal part of prepping for any magical rite. It was why Mack had showered before opening up that portal to the Infernal Dimension for us.
"Why didn't you bathe before bringing Leon back?" I asked.
He flushed. "There was so much magic to work with in those ruins that I didn't have to," Xavier said. "Those weren't normal circumstances. These are normal circumstances. Rit
es have to be done a certain way and you have to enter the right state of consciousness."
"I wouldn't want to purify myself in that lake. There's seaweed floating in it that you can't see."
Mack waded around. I could hear his feet sinking into mud. He breathed slowly, concentrating. Maybe the nature of this place would help him do this right. In my opinion, a place like this with towering, old trees and pure starlight would be better for magic than a junkyard. It could be fortunate we had wound up in this place. Glamouring people had to be a difficult rite.
Mack took about ten minutes in the lake. We waited on the other side of the van and I listened to him dress. Mack then walked over in his now-soggy clothes and opened the back door of his car, producing a folding table, candles, and a black altar cloth. Xavier and I watched him set up while he focused on his breathing. He must be trying to keep a certain state of mind. I didn't dare interrupt. He worked with purpose and deep concentration. I had seen Mack prepare for a rite before in his living room and this was similar.
For now, he had pushed his shame aside. It couldn't get in the way of the rite.
Mack set up some candles in a ring on the beach, big enough for us to stand inside. He motioned for us to step inside the circle he had created. He then muttered some low words in the magical tongue that only Mages knew. My skin tingled as he spoke in a low voice and walked in a rhythmic way around the circle, lighting each candle. The air felt different now, more charged. I felt like we were in a bubble of magic that we couldn't see. I tensed. Would it hurt to have a glamour put over us?
Light flickered over the sand and a gentle breeze made the flames dance. The atmosphere had changed, all right. Mack didn't speak to us the entire time we stood there, next to each other and not touching. I wanted to hold Xavier's hand, but I had the sense it might mess up the rite.
And I still feared he would reject me.
He was still afraid.
The rite passed in a blur. Mack picked up a dagger and pointed to the two hairs sitting on the altar next to a black candle, and then he pointed the blade at each of us in turn. He did this motion three times, repeating the same words, and the tingle got stronger across my skin. Xavier flinched like the same was happening to him. Mack muttered a couple more words and walked in a ring around each of us, waving the woman's hair over my head and the man's over Xavier's leather hat. The tingling increased. It was kind of cool and breathtaking, standing in this magical circle that Mack had cast with only some simple candles and the right words and movements. For a moment, I wondered why he wanted to get rid of his magic at all. This wasn't an evil type of magic. Some magic was quite good and the authorities were wrong to try to crush it. Even Mack was capable of magic that wasn't evil.
But right when these thoughts washed over me, a much stronger electrical sensation washed over me and the world blurred. My bones shifted and popped as they changed size and shape. My skin pulled and came together again. The world blurred as my vision changed and became duller and darker. I was changing, morphing into something else. I dropped my sword and let it fall to the sand. The candles danced in my vision and I blinked, wanting to scream, but I couldn't.
And at last, it all stopped and my vision went back to normal.
Sort of.
I blinked, trying to clear the dullness from my vision, but it was no use. I could no longer see the seaweed underneath the water or the fish that swam in the lake. The starlight reflecting off the lake was barely visible and the night was much darker and scarier. I blinked, trying to summon my gray night vision, but it had fled.
And next to me stood a taller man in Xavier's leather coat and hat.
I was taller, too. I looked down to see my jeans hugging me a little too tight and a little too low. My ankles were visible. The shape of my body was stockier and my chest and hips fuller.
The glamour.
We were now disguised as two of the ATC agents.
Mack leaned against the table and motioned for the two of us to remain still. "Do not move," he instructed. "I must close the rite properly and dismiss the spirits I've summoned, or else they will take away your glamour when you leave the circle."
Xavier and I obeyed. I couldn't get over how strange my body felt. I knew it wasn't real, but it felt real. My vision had even changed to that of a Normal. Was this how humans saw everything? They were missing out on so much. The last time I'd had vision like this, I was two years old. This brought back a flood of very early memories, including one of trick-or-treating in my mother's arms with a pumpkin pail in one chubby hand. I hadn't even remembered that until now.
Mack walked around the circle again, muttering more words as he pinched each candle, snuffing it out.
And then total darkness fell.
I was nearly blind.
Mack let out a breath. "I wasn't sure that would work on two people," he said, "but it looks like we chose the perfect setting out here. Now, I've put a very strong glamour on the two of you. Any Abnormal-detecting wards around the bunker will not be set off when the two of you enter the building. For the next few hours, it is as if you are both Normals."
"Really?" I asked, shocked to hear Sanders's voice coming out of my mouth. I moved my arms, which were dark shadows. I hated this near night blindness. I hadn't realized how much I relied on my vision until now.
Mack was a dark blob near a square shadow. "The unfortunate trade-off of this rite means that neither of you have access to your powers. That includes fast healing and magic. You can consider yourselves Normals until the glamour wears off."
A strange feeling swept over me. Even though I was in the body of a grown woman, a sense of joy swept over me and tears almost spilled out of my eyes. This was what I had dreamed of ever since I was very young. A Normal Life. Normal needs. Freedom to move around as I wanted.
"Does that mean the sunrise won't bother me?" I asked, only realizing that the horizon was turning pink. We had taken some time getting ready and waiting for Mack to get here.
"I'm assuming that it won't," Mack said. "I think you only have three hours, so you need to go. Take the uniforms from the ATC agents in the back and change. I'll help you keep them cooperative."
That was the part I wasn't looking forward to but it had to be done. Xavier and I opened the back door and I realized we were almost helpless without our powers. So this was how a Normal felt all the time. It was no wonder the ATC carried their guns and their tasers and upped security around the headquarters. Normals had to feel helpless and scared knowing there were Abnormals around.
It was a strange feeling.
Mack used some Dark Magic to hold the two agents up against the wall of their prison while Xavier and I stole their uniforms. They were both wearing underwear underneath their vests and black slacks, but that didn't make it much better. Mack's Dark Magic swirled around the two of them like a series of narrow black snakes or power lines. The woman's chin wobbled and she looked terrified as the bands tightened around her wrists and held her there. They asked why we looked like them and what we planned to do. I forced myself to ignore the questions.
“We're not going to hurt you,” I promised, changing and slipping the black ATC pants up over my glamoured legs. I wished Mack's rite had included clothing, but according to him, no matter what magic you did, you couldn't get that from a single hair. “We'll just hold you captive until things calm down. You see, Thoreau is a demon and he wants to end the world and force all the Abnormals you're capturing to work for him. You're not doing what you think you're doing, keeping Normals safe.”
Xavier helped me out. “The world needs Abnormals. We can all work together.”
I wasn't sure about that. It sounded too good to be true. Normals and Abnormals had been at odds with each other since the beginning of time. Before, it was the Abnormals who ruled, demanding sacrifices and worship like the Dark Council. Now the Normals were against all Abnormals. Well, not all of them, but a lot of the ones in power, and they were being tricked by the worst Abnor
mal of all. Now things might swing back in favor of the evil Abnormals all over again and they'd haul our world back into the dark ages.
We finished changing. Mack's facial features strained as he tried to keep the Dark Magic working and holding our prisoners to the wall, now in their underpants. It didn't do much to calm them down. Both Xavier and I jumped down from the back of the van and Mack closed the doors, letting his magic wear off. The two agents fell to the floor inside, panting.
Looking down and seeing an ATC uniform on myself was disturbing, to say the least. I had learned to hate those uniforms all the way from the name tags down to the boots. I sniffed and realized I could no longer smell anything, either. My senses were all dulled.
But at least I had the taser and a real gun. I had never fired a real gun but I turned the taser over and over in my hand. It didn't look hard to use.
Xavier didn't look comfortable, either. The sky had turned orange by now and dawn was close. I hoped that this glamour allowed me to tolerate it or we wouldn't get very far.
"The busted windows," Xavier said in the male agent's voice. His name tag read Ernest. I guessed that was the last name of the agent. "We have to do something about them."
"I can't help you there," Mack said. "Dark Magic isn't the best for, well, fixing things. You had better hurry. Already your time is wearing down. You'll burn half an hour just getting to the bunker."
"But they'll know this is the stolen van," I said. "We need a cover story."
"Tell them that you killed those Abnormals who took your van," Mack said with a shrug, like it wasn't a big deal.
"Is that ATC protocol?" Xavier asked.
"Just say that you shot them and left them in a field, then came back to get help," Mack said. "You have guns. Fire one bullet out of each one and they'll believe that you discharged some shots."
We did, after tensing and figuring out how they worked. The guns were surprisingly heavy and threw my hands back when I fired into the lake. I waited for reactions, but I couldn't hear what the two agents were saying in the back of the van. "We need to get them out," I said after I caught my breath. "The agents, I mean. The people at the bunker will figure out that we're duplicates if we don't."