Funny Tragic Crazy Magic (Tragic Magic Book 1)

by Sheena Boekweg

  “What did I do,” I whispered, “Honestly. What did I do to make you all hate me so much?”

  “What did you do?” Giara said, again laughing. “How about aiding in the escape of the prisoner who killed your family? How about bringing a collection of Grandfathers into the Grandmothers’ Study, and then upsetting the natural balance the Grandmothers had ordered. We were fine without you. I was doing fine. I didn’t need some poorly trained teenager to take over without knowing anything about the world we live in.”

  Giara sniffed once and raised her chin, refusing to look at Kaylie or Helena.

  “Not to mention,” she continued, her voice weaker in passion, “you tried to hide an Instinct who can do runes.”

  “What about you, Giara?” I said. “You put a compulsion rune on a normal in order to kill the Instinct Carol just because she might put someone ahead of you.” I took a step toward Giara. My face looked scared on her. “You abandoned me out there on my own the day after my entire family was stolen.” I transformed myself, so I grew taller. “You have been so consumed with your own power that you’ve lead our people into a full out war with the Grandfathers.” Helena turned in horror to Giara. “My mom trusted you, Giara.”

  “Your mother never trusted you,” Giara said. “Helena, Carol died in a very sad accident that I had nothing to do with. This girl has no proof, and a shaky history of lies. She came here with the Grandfathers, tried to kill Ana, and knocked out Sarah without provocation. I hope you will give these accusations of hers the despicable lack of merit they deserve.”

  “Of course, Giara.” Helena said with a smile.

  When Giara turned her back to them, I caught a shared look between Helena and Kaylie. Helena transformed back into her own self.

  “This girl is a traitor to everything her mother and I created. I hate to do this,” she said in my voice, “but really you have left me no choice.

  “There’s always a choice,” I said, and for a second Giara paused.

  That one pause was enough for me to do something. I threw stay on both the women. Kaylie stepped back. She couldn’t do anything to harm me, but by now, I knew better than to trust any Grandmother. I used stay on her too. With the women frozen, I took a deep breath, opened my mother’s notebook, and glanced through it. I was stalling, in truth. I knew I only had a moment or two to figure out a way to save my own life. And Joe’s, wherever he was. There had to be something I could do to save us. I memorized as many of the runes as I could. They just didn’t get it. They didn’t understand me. I flipped the page, and the answer was right there, written in my abuela’s handwriting. Perception. It was a two-step rune.

  First, I had to erase Giara’s memories. I drew the erase rune on Giara’s forehead. As I drew, I stared at my own face, right in front of me. Giara looked strange. Because usually when I looked at myself, it was in a mirror, so the reflection was backward. But this was the way people actually saw me. My hair actually parted this way. This was backwards me.

  I turned away from backwards me and glanced back to the notebook. Perception was a surgical rune, similar to the ones used for major healings. I didn’t have much experience with healing runes, but it couldn’t be that hard, right? Then I overlapped a reverse version of erase to put in new memories. It seemed appropriate, doing a reverse rune on backwards me. I followed the rune exactly as written, except I added all of the details of my transformation runes that meant me in order to share my perspective. I finished the rune with a circle that closed all the way, until there was no beginning and no ending.

  When I finished the rune, I felt like I had been punched in the face. My memories of the last several months poured out of my head, and through my fingers… kind of like I’m doing now, writing this book. But instead of the computer, they poured into Giara.

  When I lifted my fingers away from Giara’s forehead, the runelight faded into her skin. I felt so weak, as the memories kept tugging their way out of me. This better work, I thought. Otherwise, I had just served myself up to them on a platter, and Joe was still in trouble.

  And that’s when I blacked out.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  I woke up, and Giara and my mom’s notebook were gone. I looked around. Helena had collapsed on the ground, her head in her hands. Kaylie was just waking up, and she crawled over to Helena to give her a healing.

  “What happened?” Kaylie asked. I shrugged, and then turned toward the hallway Joe had traveled. I was unarmed. All I had were the runes I had memorized, and a horrible headache. Giara was on her way to hurt Joe. I couldn’t rest, even for a second for Kaylie to heal me.

  I ran through the twisting corridors of the Study, but the turns felt natural to me. Easy, like muscle memory. I knew every turn. I wonder if I had been there before. Maybe I played there as a child while my mother did her thing.

  The halls were too confusing though, even for my instincts. When I reached a dead end, I drew the rune for find and searched for Giara, but the rune didn’t seem to work, I could only see the hallway I stood in.

  Maybe she was invisible.

  I turned around, expecting to see that line of runelight that happened when the working rune ended.

  Nothing happened. No, she probably just knew a way to reflect finding that I hadn’t read yet. I looked instead for Joe, and when the rune travelled through the rooms of the Study, I saw her, backwards me, waiting behind a door, listening through the walls with magic.

  Joe stood in a circle with Michael, Ash, and the three Grandfathers. He needed my help, not just because of those in the room with him, but because of the spy dressed as me on the other side of the wall, armed with the killing runes, and eager to prove her worth.

  One door away from Giara, I drew the rune for invisibility, and then drew a silence rune on the door as I snuck into the room. The backwards girl in front of me, with her hand against the wall, didn’t turn. I remember when I used the rune, how the people in the background seemed to disappear, and I knew she was vulnerable.

  I stepped toward her. The invisibility rune released much sooner than I expected, and my sudden appearance drew her eyes to me.

  I expected her to attack, but she didn’t.

  “Joe’s in trouble,” she whispered. I leaned in closer to the wall and drew my own eavesdropping rune. Then, side by side, two versions of myself, heads against the wall.

  Inside the room, the first thing I could hear was Leo giggling.

  “Oh no,” I whispered, “That’s never a good sign.”

  Giara shushed me.

  Miles was speaking. “I believe the final vote is yours, Robert.” I reapplied my find so I could see inside the room as well as listen, and Giara copied me. It was strange she didn’t come up with that one on her own. And she called me poorly trained.

  I would have done better in her place.

  Joe stood in the center of the room, a look of fear cast over his face. Michael sat in the corner in a lush leather chair, his head in his hands, as he looked to the floor. Leo was stalking the circle, like a shark circling around a feeding frenzy, just waiting for his chance to attack. When Leo passed by my side, I looked at Joe. A rune was drawn on his arm in braided runelight. Three Runes had drawn the rune for stay, and only three Runes were in the room, so I knew Ash was holding his own son hostage.

  Oh, I hated him. I had never hated Ash before with this much vehemence, not even when he knocked me unconscious. It was like whatever Giara me did to me while I was passed out unlocked my ability to get angry.

  I shook my head and focused within the room for something that my hope could hold on to. The compulsion rune had ended, so at least Joe was still in his right mind as they decided whether they should kill him or not. Silver lining.

  “I regret doing this, but the law is clear, Joseph,” Robert said. “It is well known that we saved you, and when you do a rune again, it will be decided it was our fault for saving you. You would move us closer to the war that is pressuring to break free. More Mages would die,
and it is with them in mind that I vote in favor. It is for our hope for peace that you must die.”

  Both of us on this side of the wall drew a breath in the same instant.

  I spoke first, “We can’t let him die, Giara. Please.”

  Giara looked at me with a look of shock on her face. “I’m not…” She amended her statement. “You’re right, of course. We have to go in there.”

  “Now?” I asked. We both turned to face the wall. Leo prodded Michael to stand and face Joe.

  Michael spoke first. “Please don’t make me,” he whispered, his voice sounded hollow.

  The rune was ending. Why was my magic ending so soon? What had Giara done to me?

  Leo smiled, but it was Miles’ voice I heard, “If you don’t… give you back to Leo.” Leo’s giggle filled the room again. I couldn’t listen to this.

  I wiped my runelight clean, and then drew open on the door. I was going now, whatever Giara wanted. No one would hurt Joe.

  I was the first inside the room, but Giara followed behind me. I felt exposed to have her so close, but I didn’t care. I didn’t even care if I died, so long as I could keep Joe safe. I punched Leo across the mouth, and I must have been stronger than I remembered, because he fell to the ground and stopped moving. It wasn’t enough though; I wanted to keep hitting him, kick him a few times in the stomach, but my need to save Joe overwhelmed even my uncontrollable anger.

  The Grandfathers all looked at me, and then back to Giara. They didn’t know which Witch was which.

  Sorry. I so had to do that.

  Even Joe looked confused.

  “Help me.” Giara yelled. She was trying to wipe the runelight that trapped Joe, but the braided strand was much too much for her to do alone. I ran to her, and we tried to wipe the runelight together. Robert and Miles walked toward us as if they had all the time in the world. They knew we were outmatched and trapped. They knew I, at least, wouldn’t leave Joe here for them to kill. I looked down at Joe’s arm again, and I bit my lip. It was still too much. The braided runelight was too much for us to wipe away even together. I couldn’t get Joe free. I turned to look at Robert and Miles, and they both smiled.

  I would destroy them. I would beat them until they were forced to release Joe. I breathed in heavy breaths, and I smiled.

  Then the runelight slackened. Giara faced Ash, her face imploring to his unending goodness.

  He surprised me. He withdrew his line of runelight, his eyes facing away from the Grandfathers as if he had just done something he should have been ashamed of, instead of saving his only son.

  Together Giara and I had enough strength to release Joe from the rune for stay. This, officially, is no longer my favorite rune. Traitor. Joe took three awkward steps backwards toward the wall. Robert stood right before me, and Miles stood before Giara. Robert reached forward, his hands on my shoulders forcing me down. I slammed his hands away from my shoulder with my fists clenched.

  “Don’t.” Giara shouted at me. I glanced once at her, and then together we drew stay on the bodies of our tormentors.

  Both of the Grandfathers were still, frozen in place. Robert looked at me with a compassion I didn’t believe.

  I pried my arms out of his frozen hand, and then fell onto my stomach. Giara offered her hand to help me stand up. I took her hand, and both of us leaning on the weight of the other as we stood together. It was strange. We didn’t feel like enemies, not then. We felt like we were working for the same side, fighting together, as if we were almost the same person.

  I half-smiled at her, and Giara grimaced and then walked to Joe. She hugged him, and I couldn’t look. She was trying to fool him. She could hurt him. “That’s Giara, Idiot. Don’t trust her.” Joe stepped away, and I smiled as Giara tried to reassure him of who she was.

  Michael leaned against the wall trying not to look at either of us. His eyes took in Leo still lying on the ground, and a look of hatred filled his face. He walked forward and put his arm on Leo’s shoulder. I didn’t say anything, although I think I was the only one looking in his direction. Leo deserved to die.

  Ash saw Michael’s movement at the wrong second and ran forward.

  “No! Don’t you hurt him,” he screamed, and he pushed Michael off balance.

  Michael’s arms reached out as he fell, and they clung to Ash’s arm. A line of runelight jutted out across Ash’s arms, like a wave of fire that engulfed his body until there was only a cloud of runelight that twisted and faded in the stagnate air in the room.

  There was a thud as Michael fell to the ground, and then I heard his sob as it broke free. And Ash was dead. His body fell down like a limp rag doll, his skin pale gray, sucked clean of all its color, of all its life.

  Joe and Giara were still. They both froze, looking at Ash’s body as if they expected him to start moving or jump up and say, “I fooled you.”

  The idea made me laugh, and Joe looked at me with his pain clear in his eyes.

  I felt horrible for laughing. Ash was Joe’s father, even if I didn’t like him… no, even if I hated him, I had no right to be insensitive to Joe’s feelings.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said. “It’s been a really long day.”

  I walked closer to Joe and pulled in close to him, breathing in his warm smell, trying to give him comfort for the loss of his newly found father. I could feel Giara’s hand around his waist.

  Joe pushed us both away, and then looked at us, Giara and me, trying to decide who it was he could trust. I tried to look at him to shout out I loved him. That it was me he should trust. He didn’t seem sure. How could he not know me? How could he not know it was me?

  Robert’s eyes turned toward Ash. Miles looked at both of us trying to decide which of us was which. Michael’s quiet crying filled the room.

  The big baby.

  Joe whispered, “Okay…” he started, and then his voice broke, and he started again, “Okay. Whichever one of you is my Riz… tell me where your mother drew your protection rune when you were a baby.”

  That was easy. I spoke first, “Three inches above my belly button,” I lifted the bottom of my sweater a little bit, to show the bottom edge.

  Joe turned to Giara. She bit her lip. “That’s none of your business.”

  Joe took a deep breath, and then his sunflower eyes smiled. Giara smiled back at him.

  “Wait, no.” I said quickly. “What kind of test is that? Joe, that’s Giara; that’s not me.” He lifted Giara up with a quick and tortured glance to Ash’s body, and then turned to the wall.

  “No! That’s not me.” I ran to them, and my fingers tried to clasp Joe’s shirt and force him to stay, but my fingers just ran right through it. Giara looked back at me over Joe’s shoulder, a look of pity quickly flashing through her face, and then they were gone.

  “Joe!” I screamed my voice raw and ragged as I beat against the wall, solid with me on the wrong side. I drew the rune for find on my forehead and watched, my heart breaking, as they ran together through walls out of the Grandmothers’ Study.

  Robert started moving first as my stay rune ended, but I didn’t pay him much attention. Giara held Joe’s hand and they walked up the streets away from the building. She turned, and Joe stopped as well, as she looked back at the Study. Robert did a quick healing rune on Leo’s shoulder and he stirred. Outside, Giara looked as if she was searching through the Study for me, and then she wiped her fingers, and with a reluctant and tired sigh turned her back to me. Miles shook his head and then as one, the Grandfathers turned to face me.

  I swallowed, and closed my eyes, my find eyes the only ones I needed now. The Grandfathers discussed for a moment what they would do with me. I ignored them. They hadn’t even bothered to put a silence rune on, but they didn’t need to. My heart hurt so much I couldn’t move. I couldn’t flee, or do anything proactive. I just… How could he have not known me? Leo and his beatings weren’t enough to break me, but Joe walking away from me was. I was broken, my heart, my spirit. Everything about me was
broken.

  I reapplied find and watched them as they walked together, Giara and my Joe. Mine.

  I watched them, holding hands and walking away from me, as Leo brought the axe down, and my life as a Witch ended.

  Afterwards, the Grandfathers ignored me. I wasn’t any kind of threat now. As Leo healed the bleeding on my arms, that sick honey feeling filled my chest. Miles and Robert debated whether I was Giara or Larissa. They seemed surprised that I stayed in my own form when the magic cut off. They couldn’t reach a conclusion that satisfied either of them, and ended with Miles saying, “I guess we will never know.”

  But I knew. I knew who I was; just no one cared what a rube thought.

  I left the Study through the front entrance. Helena, Kaylie, and Ana stood right outside the front doors. Ana smiled at me, and whispered into Helena’s ear.

  Kaylie waved at me when I left.

  I wandered around the streets of Paris for a while. I’m sure I looked frightening. There was my own blood on my silk dress.

  Joe and Giara found me about an hour later. Giara made me promise I wouldn’t say anything about what had happened. If I didn’t say anything, then she wouldn’t hurt Joe. I didn’t trust her, but enough inside me wanted to keep him safe so I promised anyway.

  Giara transformed into my mother while Joe drove me to the hospital, my home for the last two months. She did a rune on my arm, so the scars looked fresher. Doc Jensen welcomed me in, and accepted Giara’s claim that I had tried to kill myself and needed to be locked away for my own protection.

  She gave me a kiss on the forehead before she left.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, as if an apology would make up for what happened to me.

  Joe looked at me for a long time, and like an idiot, I stared back at him, tears running down my cheeks. I wasn’t embarrassed. I wanted those tears to hurt him, to make him doubt, to make him love me in any way I could get it.