Funny Tragic Crazy Magic (Tragic Magic Book 1)

by Sheena Boekweg

  “How do they work?” he asked, when I trailed off into grief land.

  I was glad for the distraction, “They take energy. Same way running a mile would. The more runelight used, the more energy expelled, the bigger the cost. That’s why most people who use magic are lean; magic burns calories.”

  “Sweet,” he said.

  I smiled. “I know.”

  “What makes us different from the rubes?”

  “The rubes?” I asked.

  “Yeah, um… normal people. I’d call them muggles, ‘cept J.K. Rowling would sue me.”

  I smiled and looked down at my knees, then blushed when I realized how I had to answer his question.

  This was going to be really awkward, and I felt awkward enough just talking to Joe already.

  “Okay,” I said with a sigh, “so pretend you’re not a teenage boy for a minute, okay Joe? Pretend you are a doctor, or something very clinical.”

  “Alright,” he said.

  “This is how my mom explained it to me, and it’s the clearest explanation I know.”

  I took a breather. My cheeks puffed out, as the words didn’t want to come out.

  “Come on, spill.” Joe said.

  I looked away from him and spoke really quickly. “Okay, think of how moms create breast milk.”

  “Yuck, Larissa.”

  “Clinical.” I pointed my index finger at him but still wouldn’t look in his eyes. “Remove yourself from the situation, Joe.”

  He made this exaggerated shudder, and I blushed and looked away from him. This was so not the conversation I wanted to have with a cute boy.

  “So the body sends a hormone to the mom when it’s time to create milk for the child, and then the milk comes when it’s needed. The mom really does nothing to make it flow. It’s just kind of natural. You know? All mammals do it.”

  I felt itchy warmth again on the back of my neck. I turned around to see if anyone was watching, but no one seemed to notice us.

  “Magic is kind of the same thing. Witches and whatever you call yourself…”

  “Joe. I call myself Joe.”

  “Dork. Okay… Witches, like myself, or dudes like the great and powerful Joe,”

  “I like it.” He interrupted.

  I pretended I didn’t hear him. “…have this hormone… umm… flaw really, that normal people, or rubes I guess, don’t have. It triggers at puberty, and then the magic starts flowing.”

  I glanced at him. Joe didn’t seem grossed out anymore, so I felt a bit more comfortable. “When a Witch is taught runes, the magic can flow out safely. That’s my branch of magic: Runes. Runes can do almost anything, if they know the right rune to draw. That’s why you never steal a Rune’s notebook.”

  “I’ll stick to stealing from rubes from now on.” Joe said.

  I laughed, sure he was joking, but he didn’t laugh with me.

  “Your term “Rubes” sounds too much like Runes, so I don’t think I’m ever going to use that word to describe regular people. Runes are not normal people.”

  “I believe it,” he said emphatically.

  “Shut up.” I punched his arm, and he fell off the side of my car. I laughed, but tried to do it silently so it wouldn’t take any runelight. I checked my hand, and the rune was half-gone. Most of the cars were gone in the parking lot. There was a pale silver corvette parked near the front, but I didn’t think much of it.

  Joe stood up and brushed himself off. He started saying something I’m sure he thought was intelligent, but I silenced him with my next sentence.

  “You’re an Instinct. That’s the other branch of magic. Runes and Instincts used to be at war with each other, but there was a peace treaty signed in like the eighteen hundreds or something. The friction now is between the genders- male and female- so you and I still can’t be friends.” I smiled anyway, although it was true, and he sat back down next to me.

  The car lowered with his weight, and I adjusted to keep my balance.

  I think he sat closer to me than he did before. That would account for my being so much more aware of him.

  “Anyway, umm… so Instincts work a little different.” My voice was quieter because I felt a little self-conscious. He leaned in to hear, and I could smell him. He smelled like pine… and the honey smell that filled the Grandmothers Study the one time I had been there. I looked away from him.

  “Instincts have the same hormone thing that Runes do except when the magic comes, if they aren’t taught a rune to let it out slowly, it kind of builds up. They become engorged, if you like.”

  “You are disgusting.” Joe’s revulsion was false; I could tell he was crazy focused on what I was saying.

  “And then one day, it happens. They um… snap, I guess. The magic explodes, and they can do this one crazy, impossible thing. It’s like the rune they should have done gets stuck, and instead of being able to do magic to do all sorts of things, they can only do one thing amazingly well.”

  He looked down at his hands. I felt awkward for a second, explaining something I had no experience with, but he had lived through.

  “At least that’s what my mom told me. Is that right? How’d it happen for you?” I asked.

  “Oh…” He looked at me like he was surprised I was still there. “umm… That’s about right. I was fourteen, when it happened.” He lowered his voice and leaned in closer. “I’ve never told anyone this before. Feels weird talking about it.”

  His eyelashes were almost colorless at the tips. He seemed so close that I wanted to lean back, but I didn’t.

  “I was grounded for some bogus thing I had done. There was a party and a girl I wanted to see, but my mom wouldn’t let me out of my room. Uh...this was back when we lived in Georgia when my mom was finishing school.” He turned away. “I was mad, and my head was pounding, and all I could think is how I had to leave. I had to get out. All of a sudden, it felt like this pressure on my shoulder blades lifted, and I fell through my bedroom wall. I thought I had gone crazy. How did I move through the wall? Was it like a subatomic thing, or maybe a problem with the wall structure? I shifted my hand through the wall and held a handful of drywall that crumbled between my fingers. That was one deposit we didn’t get back.”

  “Open. That’s your rune. I don’t remember how to draw it, but I do remember hearing about it. So I guess that explains it.”

  “Explains what?”

  “Why you could get into my car, even though I set a great rune. You can walk through walls.”

  There was pain at the back of my neck. I stopped talking (and listening, to be honest) when the feeling of being watched came back and bit me. My entire neck burned like someone put a curling iron there and wouldn’t take it off.

  I turned behind me. That silver convertible was the only car other than mine on that side of the parking lot. When I looked at the car, the burning sensation left. There was movement from inside the car, a rustling of yellow and green, and a flash of red hair. The convertible revved its engine and then pulled forward with a jerk. I watched as the car pulled past me. Erica Fisher sat in the front seat of her car, her red hair dancing behind her in the early fall wind.

  Erica Fisher was an Instinct?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I wiped away the rest of the silence rune. It was almost spent anyway.

  “Off,” I said, gesturing for Joe to get off my car. I pushed his arm, and he stood up.

  “What…” he started.

  I ignored him and sat down in the driver’s seat. I’ve known Erica Fisher since third grade. I’ve had staring contests with the girl. I would have known if she was an Instinct… same way I could tell Joe was one. I tried to close the driver’s side door, but Joe held it open by the metal along the top.

  “What, you’re not gonna give me a ride home?”

  I smiled into the rear view mirror. “Nope, hope you wore comfortable shoes.”

  I hit the gas, and the car sprang forward, leaving Joe standing in the parking lot, his messenger bag ar
ound his chest. I was facing away from the exit, so I flipped a U-turn, the wheels squealing because I was driving too fast.

  Joe started running toward my car. Right before he would have hit it, he covered his head and jumped. The brake pedal felt rough against my bare foot. Joe went through the glass and the metal of the door like it was painted air. He landed in the passenger seat next to me. His shoulder hit into mine.

  I looked at him, and he smiled back at me.

  “I’m glad that worked,” he said.

  “Seriously?” I said. Erica was at the end of the parking lot making a left hand turn. I hit the gas pedal. “Don’t you have any boundaries?”

  Joe put his right foot on my windshield, and both of his hands behind his head. “Not really, no.” He smiled at me, and I couldn’t help smiling back.

  I reached the exit of the lot and then turned left. Erica’s car couldn’t be that far away. I knew those streets well. I just walked through them this morning. I lived my whole life here, same as Erica. She lived two blocks behind my house, so if she were going home, she would turn right at the light.

  Something told me she wasn’t going toward her house.

  “There,” I said, pointing with my right hand.

  The silver car turned left at the light, toward the highway. I sped up in the right lane, passing a green minivan on the left.

  Joe put his feet down on the ground. His hands perched on the dashboard, his fingers brushing against the formed plastic.

  “So, what’s up?” he asked, with a false bravado.

  “You know that girl Erica, who followed behind us when we walked to third period?

  “Yeah, the hot red head.”

  That shouldn’t have bothered me as much as it did. I rolled my eyes.

  “Something weird is going on,” I said. “I think she might be an Instinct.”

  “Man, did I sign up for the best job or what?”

  “You’re kind of a jerk, you know that?” I said, as I turned left at the light.

  “Yeah, I’ve been told that.” A flash of pain crossed his face so quick I wasn’t sure if I even saw it. “Several times.”

  I turned back to the road. She was right there, stopped at the light on Twelfth and Wall. I slowed down, unsure of what I should do next. I sat at the light two cars behind her.

  The top of her convertible was down. Through the window of the car in front of me, I saw her tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. She turned her face, as if she was looking in her rear view mirror, and then she froze. I could almost see her eyes locked on mine.

  Then the light changed to green, and she must have floored it. The car jumped into the intersection, and I don’t think Erica even had time to see the car that crashed into the side of her car. There was this horrible crunching noise. Solid metal crumpled as if it were made of aluminum foil. The two cars scrunched up together, silver convertible and gold SUV. They slid together and came to a stop against a pole.

  Screams came from everywhere, and it took me a moment to realize that the person screaming was me. I stopped myself. My throat felt raw. I just sat in the front seat of my car, my fingers trembling, and I couldn’t stop whimpering.

  Joe got out of the car so fast I wasn’t sure if he opened the door or just slid through it. He ran toward the cars, and I knew I should go out there with him, but I couldn’t move. People pulled over all along the road. A middle age man had his cell phone out. I could hear him reporting the accident. Joe went to the gold SUV first and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. He bent down as if he was talking to the door, and then he pulled once more and the door came off.

  Inside the gold car, I could see a pink booster seat and tiny pink tennis shoes.

  I left my car then, more running away from my vantage point than going to help anyone. I walked by the broken cars, searching for Erica. Her windshield was smashed in a circle, like a ripple on a pond of glass. Her head was down on the steering wheel, and a line of blood split down from her scalp to her eyebrows. She stirred against the steering wheel for a moment.

  I looked away. Joe was on the other side of the gold SUV now, and no one but me saw him materialize through the smashed door and pull out an unconscious woman. The woman from the SUV looked like a mom to me. A mom with an expensive hair cut and real diamond earrings. What was a woman like that doing in our side of the valley? Joe put her down on the grass, and put his fingers against her neck to check for a pulse.

  I looked back at Erica, and there was this ripple of light that ran over her entire body.

  “Joe.” I said. He turned from the woman and walked to my side. I pointed at Erica. The ripple of light ran through her once more, and as it ran past Erica’s face, it left behind another woman’s face in its trail.

  The woman was in her sixties probably, her hair frizzy and dyed a brown color. White roots, almost an inch long, ran along her scalp. Blood dripped down her mottled and wrinkled skin. Her eyes opened, and they weren’t green like Erica’s, they were this brown so light it was almost yellow. They stared intently into mine.

  Her mouth moved.

  “Hide,” she said, and then her body, dressed in the yellow and green cheerleader’s uniform, was still.

  I turned away from this woman who was not Erica. Behind us, the wealthy mother was stirring, and Joe ran to her side.

  “Hey,” he shouted. “Wake up. Look at me.” The woman opened her eyes. She sat up and put her hand to her head.

  “What happened to me?” she asked.

  “You’ve been in an accident. The police are on their way.”

  “I don’t know where I am.”

  “What?” Joe asked.

  “You’re in Plymouth.” I said.

  The woman looked so confused. “What, where’s Plymouth? Is that by Toronto?”

  Joe leaned back. “No. It’s in Indiana.”

  “What, America?” She moved her hand to her neck. “What am I doing in the States?”

  Joe looked over at me. “Larissa, look at that,” he said, pointing at the SUV.

  A soft blue light reflected from the side of the gold SUV. I gasped. I knew that color code.

  I didn’t know the rune. I took a pen from my back pocket and I copied the rune down onto the skin on my forearm. I stood and walked towards the car, and I wiped the remaining runelight on the SUV away with my fingers. My arms were cold. Goose bumps covered my neck.

  The woman shook her head after I lifted the rune and it was as if a fog cleared from her eyes.

  “Where’s my daughter? Sydney, where are you?”

  Joe reached for the woman’s hand, “She’s fine. She’s right here on the other side of your car.”

  He helped support the woman and then walked behind the cars.

  I just stood there, my bare feet on broken glass, trying hard not to panic.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  We stayed there on the scene until it got dark. We watched as they towed the broken cars and took Erica’s (or whatever the Witch’s name was) body away in an ambulance that never bothered to turn on its lights. Sydney and her mother left with a couple of people from emigration.

  As we walked back to my car, I tried to make sense of it. The only clear thing was that some Instinct had been watching me. Or maybe they were watching Joe. I didn’t know. I didn’t have a chance to ask the woman before she died in front of me.

  Because some Rune compelled an innocent rube from outside Toronto on a two day journey that ended two cars away from me, killing the Witch who was spying on us.

  It couldn’t have been an accident, but how could someone plan for something like that? It was too random of a coincidence.

  Honestly, it made my head ache just thinking about it.

  I took Joe home after all. He lived in this two bedroom white house with black shutters, right on the corner of a busy street. There were mature trees in the front yard, and a fresh-trimmed hedge along the side of the house separated the house from the road. His mom’s white pickup parked
in the driveway.

  He looked over at me, gave me a half smile that didn’t reach his eyes, and then left the car without a word.

  When I got home, I turned on both televisions and all three radios in the house. The blaring noise was comforting to me, made me feel like I wasn’t in that creaking house all by myself. Before I went to bed, I ran my fingers over the protection rune my mother left above the front door. It was the exact same blue color code as was drawn on the side of that gold SUV.

  See, every Witch has her own shade of runelight. It’s like their fingerprints, or like a signature to mark their own work. The rune on the side of the SUV, was the same color as my mom’s runelight.

  That was too big of a coincidence not to notice.

  CHAPTER NINE

  When I woke up the next morning, the radio in my room was still playing. I clutched my sister’s pink blanket close to my face and breathed in deep. There was still a bit of her smell left in the blanket, even a half year later.

  “Morning.”

  I startled and looked toward the unexpected voice. Joe sat with his back to me on the end of my bed one of my paperbacks in his hands.

  Holy crap. I threw my pillow at him, “Get out.”

  He jumped off my bed and then turned, his hands up like he was playing dodge ball.

  “You didn’t answer all my questions,” he said, taking in me wearing one of my dad’s work tee shirts I wore as pajamas.

  I threw my alarm clock at him, “Get out of my room.”

  The alarm clock phased through Joe’s body and landed with a crash against my plush carpet.

  Joe raised one hand and fixed his hair so it stood straight up.

  “Whatever.” He stood and walked through my closed door.

  I put a hand on my heart to try to slow my heartbeat when Joe‘s head phased halfway through my door.

  “You got any food?” he asked with a smile.

  I reached around in my bed trying to find something else to throw, but he ducked out before I had the chance to lob something at his head.