Theft of Magic

by Martha Carr

  “Never complain, never explain. Not to anyone but Rose, of course.”

  Leira mouthed the words along with Hagan. “That’s a classic, Hagan. Haven’t heard you use that one in a long time.”

  He took another large bite of pizza as the troll jumped up and down on Leira’s shoulder, leaping into the air toward the pizza box as Leira caught him and put him back on her shoulder.

  A tiny “Motherfucker!” filled the room.

  “Haven’t stepped in shit this deep in a long time.” Hagan wiped grease off his face with a small white paper napkin. “This one will take an extra-long shovel. Any chance magic could handle this?”

  “As far as I know, never was never will be doesn’t cover the globe or we could solve a few things before pizza.”

  “That has to be getting cold.” Mara waved toward the long table set with dishes and silverware and the pile of pizzas at one end.

  “Mom is right. Nothing’s going to get explained to anyone’s satisfaction in the next hour.” The words came out slowly as Eireka looked pointedly at her mother. “We should eat first.”

  “You want to sit down at a table and eat like nothing just happened? That’s a lot to swallow, even for me.” Hagan watched carefully, reading the room. “Everybody staying calm? No itchy fingers?”

  Mara threw up her hands, her long, thick dark hair moving along her shoulders as she grabbed a handful of Jackson’s tunic, dragging him along with her. She went to the near side of the table and pulled out a metal folding chair. “Sit. You’re about to try one of this world’s finest inventions.”

  “That’s it?” Jackson lowered himself into the chair, a smile spreading across his face, deepening his dimples. He pulled out a long, thin leather strip, smoothing back his hair and tying it in the back. The women watched closely as he flexed his arms, tying a knot as Correk rolled his eyes.

  Correk took the seat one down from Hagan as he leaned in to mutter., “Apparently they haven’t gotten past the mullet on Oriceran.”

  “Is this some kind of Earth custom. One last good meal together before the body slamming?” Jackson looked up at Eireka and Don, giving a nod of his head. “You’re looking good. This your mate?”

  Correk let out a grunt as Jackson leaned forward in his chair, stretching his arm across the table. “Don’t believe we ever got around to introductions. I’m Jackson, an Elf of sorts.”

  Leira glanced back at the screen as Eireka waved her arm, archiving the video. “It’s too late to stop the video. It’s sitting on too many phones at the very least. Give it a day or two and everyone will move on.”

  “Elf of sorts?” Correk slowly put out his hand and shook Jackson’s hand tightly, feeling a strong and familiar hum. It reminded him of the energy that ran through Leira but with less power. Still…

  “I think that’s why Mara dragged me through a portal… To explain. Or at least start to explain. Strange thing to work at keeping a secret for well over a hundred years and now I have an audience to spill it to.”

  “Quit dragging it out, Jackson. Just tell them.” Mara made herself look at Leira, but she was intently watching Jackson. I hope I did the right thing.

  Jackson blew out a deep breath, puffing out his cheeks. “Fine.” He spread his hands flat on the table.

  The troll leapt down to the table and scrambled in front of Jackson, smiling. “You’re a Jaspar Elf. Rare!”

  Jackson opened his mouth to say something and shut it again. He grimaced as he said, “What the little furry guy said.”

  “Not a surprise. Turner Underwood already broke that news. You came all that way just to say that?” Leira could feel the frustration growing. So many questions.

  “Turner… The Fixer.” Jackson’s smile grew tighter. “You must be in the middle of a few things for Turner to be making an appearance. Not the only reason I came.”

  “And not the only reason I went to fetch him.”

  “Without saying anything to me.” Eireka’s eyes glistened as she leaned back in her chair. “A heads up would have gone a long way.”

  Mara looked pained as she looked at her daughter. “There was no time to explain everything. You don’t understand what’s going on here. I could tell you, which would have taken days, trust me. Or I could save Leira.”

  Yumfuck took advantage of the distraction and crawled toward the tower of boxes, easily scaling them till he was at the top. He tugged on a large slice topped with pepperoni, pulling it out of the box with as little noise as possible. He glanced over the top of the box and saw Hagan looking in his direction. The troll gave him a smile and a wink and ducked back down, giving one last hard tug as the slice came out in one easy slide acting like a hot, greasy toboggan. The troll jumped on board, holding on to the crust as the pizza hit the table, flopping over, rolling the troll inside. Yumfuck chewed his way through the top and quickly stood up, wearing the pizza around his waist, his hair slicked back with grease.

  “Never seen him look happier,” muttered Hagan. He reached over and got another piece and offered the box to Correk. “Go ahead. Good pizza has helped more than one bad party get going.” Hagan stood up and started passing the rest of the boxes in both directions. “We’re all family here… of sorts. Let’s start with that and a little pizza.”

  Leira took a seat between Correk and Hagan and pulled out a slice with mushrooms on it, passing the box. She chewed her lip, ignoring the slice as she took a look around the table. “There’s a lot of people at this table that I love and some I almost lost this past year. Two of you I had to fight like hell to get back.” The words came out choked as Leira took a deep breath and let it go, slowly. She looked over at Correk, squeezing his hand for a moment. “I’ve had enough of losing family, even if it’s to anger. Nana, you’re going to explain all of this in great detail. I’m guessing you fucked something up royally. For now, tell me how I’m in danger of dying and we’ll deal with the rest later.”

  Mara looked back over at Eireka again but Eireka looked away. She wasn’t ready to let it go as easily.

  “Okay, fair enough. Frankly, this is actually a better reception than I thought we might get. It’s true, Leira is not a Light Elf. She’s part Jaspar Elf, a large part, which explains the power she possesses.”

  “And takes a few rules to get the energy to work with you. Otherwise, it can get away from you pretty quick and cause some damage to the user as well as the surrounding countryside.” Jackson pulled out a slice of pizza and bit, slurping up the melted cheese. “Damn, that is good,” he said, as he took another large bite.

  “There’s a twist, though. It’s why I was in such a hurry to get Jackson. Leira is also part human on my side of the family. Not all magical beings come from Oriceran.” Mara let the boxes stop in front of her as she folded her hands over her plate. “There’s an old legend about human beings that some have one different chromosome that acts like a sentinel waiting for the right mixture of DNA to turn it on like a switch.”

  “Wait! I’ve heard this story before. Toni told me about it one night at the Jackalope. But it’s supposed to be a myth.” Leira rubbed the top of Yumfuck’s head, wiping off as much grease as she could from his green fur.

  He kept on chewing as his head bobbed around and Leira moved on to wiping his ears. “Yummmmm…”

  “How did you manage to get it under your arms?”

  “I’ll show you,” he chirped. The troll lowered his head and started biting at the piece in front of him, doing a slow crawl through the pizza. Leira plucked him out of the middle before he could get to the end, wrapping him in a paper towel and setting him back on the table. A large grease stain steadily spread across the brown paper.

  “That one’s on me. I did ask you.”

  “It’s not a myth,” said Mara. “But most people never know they have it. It lies dormant till it’s mixed in the right genetic soup. Even then, it might give someone what feels like heightened intuition or really good luck. Nobody connects the dots.”

  �
��Mixing Jaspar Elf with my human side connected all the dots…” Leira looked up at Mara as the realization grew across her face.

  “You knew… you knew all along, didn’t you?” Eireka rose up out of her seat. She jabbed her finger in the air in the direction of her mother, her eyes wide with amazement. “You did this!” She looked over at Jackson and back at her mother. “Wait… wait…” Her arms were stretched out in front of her, her fingers spread wide as if she was protecting herself against some unseen onslaught. “Jackson, did you stand me up? All those years ago, did you… did you get my message?”

  Jackson looked at Mara for a moment as he answered. “I’m going to give a qualified no. Truth be told, I liked to drink a lot more back then. There’s a chance I got it and it just didn’t register.”

  Mara looked relieved as Jackson leaned closer to her and whispered, “You owe me.”

  “Can we get back to the present day? How is Leira in danger? Turner Underwood was already teaching Leira how to handle the energy,” said Correk.

  “Not handle, I’ll bet. More like avoid. Am I right?” Jackson leaned over the table to grab one of the boxes in front of Mara, pulling out another slice. “I’m sorry I didn’t take to portals a long time ago,” he said, as he took a large bite.

  The troll rolled himself into a fur ball and careened down the center, bouncing off a bottle or two like a pinball until he landed in front of the pizza boxes and crawled inside one. A loud trill echoed off the walls of the box as it jiggled.

  Hagan stood up and reached across Correk for one of the pizza boxes. “Don’t mind me. Didn’t want to disturb your indignation.” He sat back down opening the box and found the troll sitting in the middle, smiling up at him. “You licked all of the slices, didn’t you?” The troll let out a cackle as Hagan sat back. Correk arched an eyebrow at him and passed another box to him.

  “Very kind of you,” said Hagan. “This is one of the more interesting family dinners I’ve ever been to. Go back to what you were doing, continue.”

  Jackson abruptly stood up as Correk leaned forward, his muscles tensing. “Easy big fellow. I’m just stretching. I was never a danger to anyone here. No one comment on that,” said Jackson, holding up his hand. “Alright, avoidance of the energy is only going to get you so far. Leira, right? Strange having to ask my own grown daughter if I got her name right. Look, the energy you feel is vast. Thought to be endless. Let’s just say no one has ever found the limits of magic and lived to come back and tell the rest of us. You can keep tamping it down, but something is going to happen that will catch you off guard and the energy will soar through you like a hurricane across the Sea of Rodania. When that happens, you may not be able to avoid anything.”

  Correk stood up, stretching to his full height, his long silver hair hanging down to his shoulders. “But learning the rules would help her.”

  Jackson eyed Correk with his chin tilted and looked over at Leira, the crooked grin returning to his face. “Save her. The rules would save her.”

  “What are they?”

  “Not that simple. Magic is never that simple. This is more of a show and do kind of lesson.”

  Hagan scratched his chin and pointed at Jackson, taking in his entire appearance. “You mean to tell me, you’ve been living by these rules this whole time?”

  “This look has taken me years to achieve and yes, I have but I still only have some of the energy that Leira must possess.”

  Eireka rose out of her seat and placed the tips of her fingers on the table as she spoke slowly. Don rose to stand next to her, his arm around her shoulders. “This extra chromosome in our family line. You knew about it.” She looked pointedly at Mara. “And you knew about it?”

  Jackson shrugged. “Mara, she’s got me on this one. Yes, Eireka I knew all along, but your mother asked me to keep it to myself. A lot of Oricerans feared Jaspar Elves. I was told at an early age to keep that one under wraps and I heard the stories.” He shook his head in disgust. “Might not have been true and probably weren’t. I mean, how could anyone capture a Jaspar Elf long enough to…” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Thing is, magical beings feared that little quirk about humans just as much and a human being is a lot easier to capture on this world or the next. One thing I didn’t know about of course, is that the two lines had come together.”

  Don slid his arm around Eireka’s waist and pulled her closer. “This is clearly a long story. Longer than one weird family dinner.”

  “You’re right.” Eireka rested her head momentarily on Don’s shoulder, briefly smiling at Leira as pain crossed her face. “We can’t add any more to the story and Leira, it looks like you need to talk to your boss. We’re going to leave.”

  “Eireka.”

  “Not now, mother. Not here.” Eireka’s voice was strained but she did her best to smile at her mother. Family sticks together, especially when it’s the last thing I want to do. She took a long look at her daughter, instinctively sending out a thin stream of energy to wrap around her only child, checking on her. Leira felt the warm embrace and let it roll around her shoulders and run down her spine. It was as much to comfort her mother as it was something familiar and sane.

  Leira looked at the two women as Correk leaned closer. “What are they doing? Are they reading minds all of a sudden?”

  Leira rested her elbows on the table, leaning her chin on her hands. “Kind of. We have one family ethos that seems to be coming up a lot these days.”

  Correk interrupted her. “If it’s the last good thing we do…”

  Leira looked up surprised. “You remembered from our fight at the Driskill. This is going to be a hard one to work through, but they will.”

  “You all will, but you’re not angry?”

  “Royally pissed off. Wish there was somebody I could run down and put in handcuffs right about now. It’s why I’m going to wait a beat or two to ask a lot more questions of anyone I’m blood related to. Less likely I’ll do something I’ll have to think about at night.”

  “So, that’s your father. Explains a lot.”

  “Careful Elf. I have a lightning bolt with your name on it.”

  “Not in any Elf’s arsenal. You know, Berens, even when things get very freaky you’re still a very lucky woman with a family like that.”

  Leira turned and looked at Correk with a crooked smile. “Freaky is in your vocabulary now? It’s the troll’s influence, isn’t it? Careful or those rounded ears won’t need a glamour anymore.” She looked back at her mother and grandmother. “This one may take some time to unravel. My father is alive and an Elf. A Jaspar Elf.” She startled and looked up at Correk. “We’re not cousins…”

  Hagan looked back and forth at everyone around the table and leaned back in his chair. “I am definitely going to have to read Rose in. This is better than one of her soaps on TV but with magic.” He pounded his chest with the flat of his hand as he let out a wet belch. “Oof, ate that last piece too fast. This dinner theater may do me in one of these days.”

  Leira looked over at Hagan and took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, puffing out her cheeks. “Mom’s right. Hell, Hagan’s even right on this one. This is bad theater. No way anything else is getting settled here today. Not like this. I say we call it and let everybody take a breath. Jackson comes with me.” Leira scooped up the troll in a pile of paper towels and held him out in front of her as she headed toward the door.

  Hagan looked at Correk surprised. “You’re not going to insist on going along?”

  “Leira’s armed and she has very powerful magic. She’ll be fine.” And there’s somewhere else I need to be right now.

  “Wasn’t Leira I was worried about.”

  Mara got up to go as Jackson tried to stop her. “You’re not even going to protest or ask me if I mind?”

  “There’s no point in arguing with my granddaughter when she gets that look in her eye. Besides, this is why I brought you across the divide. Might as well get on with it and then you can get back to you
r shed and your dog.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Turner Underwood looked down at the Breguet watch on his wrist. “Right on time. Of course, I would expect that of a Light Elf.”

  Correk marched across the patio as a few small stray leaves swirled around his cowboy boots.

  “I heard about the family get-together. Jackson finally made his way to Earth. Surprised it took this long.” Turner Underwood looked out over Lake Anna from his well-manicured lawn as the sun set turning the large Texas sky red and purple.

  He was dressed in a long dark wool overcoat, the bottom flapping in the cold breeze. A brown fedora with a striped ribbon around it was clamped down on his head. “Tempting to use a little magic and let the wind blow right around me. Would certainly be warmer. But then, what’s the fun in that? You try to make everything comfortable all the time, in my long experience you end up missing out on some great moments. Besides, it’s Austin and by tomorrow we’ll be back to balmy. I suppose this is our idea of a change in seasons. Would hate to miss it.”

  Correk came and stood next to him, his hands clasped behind his back. He was dressed in his tunic and jeans, his eyes watering from the wind. The troll poked his head out just as the faint smell of pizza mixed with the air around him. Turner turned and smiled at Yumfuck. “Some guests enjoyed themselves at the dinner.”

  “I won’t waste our time by asking how you could already know about Leira’s father showing up or even how you know him. Doesn’t matter, at least not to me. But you can answer a question for me that’s been bothering me.” Correk turned to look at Turner. “Are you equipped to help Leira learn everything she needs to know given her special circumstances?”

  Turner pursed his lips and leaned on the silver handle of his cane. “Jackson has his doubts. Not surprised. My role was to mentor Leira, to be a guide and not to ensure anything. That is an assumption you were making. No one can guarantee that and if someone tries, thrash them with a fireball for being a damn liar. Dangerous business.”