“Did that man yesterday strike you as the rational sort? Sho, say something.”
Dad was sitting in his robe at the kitchen table reading the paper. Conryu’s face covered half the front page. He gave it a shake and looked back over his shoulder toward them. “Connie, he has a point. Conryu can’t hide in here forever. If he wants to go, let him go.”
Conryu grinned, but his mother didn’t budge.
When the doorbell rang she jumped a foot off the floor. “Who could that be?”
“It’s probably Maria, wondering where I am.”
Mom looked out the peephole. “I don’t know him.”
“Let me see.” Conryu stepped up to the hole and looked out. “It’s Detective Chang.”
Conryu opened the door. Lin Chang stood in the hall wearing his usual rumpled blue suit and scuffed shoes. Thick, black eyebrows went up when he saw Conryu.
“What brings you here, Sarge?”
“Business. Can I come in?”
Conryu stepped aside so the detective could come in out of the hall. He spotted Dad in the kitchen and bowed. “Sensei, Mrs. Kane. I’ve been assigned to investigate the man that attacked Conryu yesterday. I can’t share many details, but I wanted you to know, from our preliminary efforts, he appears to have acted alone, egged on by others in his online community. We see no ongoing threat to your son. Conryu just had the misfortune to draw the attention of a disturbed individual.”
“See, Mom? No ongoing threat.”
She sighed. “Fine, you can go. But for heaven’s sake be careful. And bring me back a bag of caramel corn.”
“Will do.” Never one to question his good fortune, Conryu reached for the door before she changed her mind.
He took the elevator upstairs and found Maria waiting out in the hall for him. She had on a cute black dress with a scoop neck, silver necklace and bracelets, and white sneakers. Conryu gave her a wolf whistle. “You’re going to cause a wreck on the highway.”
She swatted him on the shoulder. “What took so long?”
“Mom didn’t want to let me go.”
Maria winced and they stepped back into the elevator. He hit the button for the garage.
“I guess I can’t blame her. I saw what happened on the news last night. It was kind of funny. It looked like the cameras terrified you, but the guy with the knife was no big deal.”
“I know how to deal with a guy with a knife, I’ve trained for it. Cameras and reporters?” He shook his head. “Way out of my comfort zone.”
The elevator chimed and the doors slid open. Unlike last time, today the garage was almost full. They wove their way through the cars toward his bike.
“Conryu! Conryu Koda!” A slim, nice-looking brunette in a pale blue suit with a cameraman behind her was running his way. He didn’t recognize her or which station she worked for, nor did he care. They were all of a piece to him.
He shouldn’t have been surprised, especially since Mr. Kane had warned him the press would come calling, but he was. He had hoped maybe they’d take Sunday off, like normal people.
“Shit!”
“Did Dad tell you what to say to them?”
“He said, nothing.”
“He didn’t offer you any advice?”
“No, his advice was to say nothing. Which was excellent as that’s what I planned to do anyway.”
They ignored the shouting woman and hurried on to his parking spot. By the time they got their helmets on and mounted the bike the reporter was five feet away and right in their path.
“Kat Gabel, Channel 7 news. Just a few questions.” She showed no sign of moving. “How does it feel to be the first male wizard?”
Conryu touched the ignition and twisted the throttle. Without a helmet the roar from the big engine reached an almost deafening volume in the enclosed garage. The woman frowned and covered her ears. When the engine had died back down to an idle she took a breath to try again.
She was determined, he had to give her that. He twisted the throttle again, farther this time. The volume forced the reporter back a step. Conryu cupped his hand beside his head and shrugged.
The reporter shook her head and moved aside, motioning her cameraman to join her. Conryu tapped the side of his helmet with his index finger and roared up the ramp, grinning beneath his helmet.
It was a ten-minute ride to the carnival grounds. The company that ran it set up in one of the city parks not far from the government offices. You could see the Ferris wheel from a mile away. They parked in a field just outside the shadow and headed toward the grounds. A temporary fence surrounded the carnival with a single opening, a slanted shack sitting beside the gate. He hoped the carnival company didn’t pay whoever built it too much.
They stepped into the shadow and entered another world. The bright morning sun changed to twilight. Conryu glanced up, but the bottom of the floating island lay in shadow so deep he couldn’t make out any details.
Sunday was always the darker of the two carnival days since the island hung directly over the grounds from dawn to dusk. The Ferris wheel looked like it almost brushed the bottom of the island, but that had to be a trick of the light. The island flew over skyscrapers, certainly a Ferris wheel would be in no danger of hitting it.
“Does it look lower than usual this year?” Maria asked.
“I thought it was my imagination. It can’t be though, can it? I mean the island flew over dozens of buildings to get here. It must be a trick of the shadows.”
Maria cast a worried look up at the island and shook her head. “You must be right. Where are we meeting Jonny and Rin?”
“By the snack stands, where else? By the way, you still owe us a pizza.”
Maria stopped and dug through her purse. She finally came up holding a thick silver ring covered in runes. “Mom would have killed me if I forgot to give this to you.”
Conryu accepted the band and looked it over. It was simple enough, smooth and cool to his touch. “Thanks, but what’s it for?”
“It’s magic. Mom enchanted it herself. The ring creates a barrier around whoever wears it powerful enough to stop anything short of a point-blank shot with a large caliber bullet. It’s useless against knives or clubs, something about velocity and deflection. I didn’t really follow her whole explanation.”
If Maria couldn’t follow the explanation Conryu didn’t even want to try. He slipped the ring on and it seemed to shrink a little for a better fit. At least it wasn’t gaudy. And if it worked as well as Maria said, it would be worth wearing. “I’ll be sure to thank your mom, but don’t think you’re getting out of buying lunch.”
“I just gave you a potentially life-saving magical artifact.”
“Yeah, thanks again. I like pepperoni and sausage on my pizza.”
“You’re horrible.”
They resumed walking through the twilight toward the carnival gate. It was definitely darker than last year and it would only get worse the closer they came to the center. Conryu fished a ten out of his wallet and when they reached the little shack handed it to a woman in a clown suit. She stamped their hands with little smiley faces and they went onto the grounds.
“Thanks.” Maria got a nostalgic smile when she looked at the stamp.
“Sure. Does your bling do anything?”
“My necklace does the same thing as the ring I gave you and I just thought the bracelets looked pretty.”
They walked down a path lined with rip-off games featuring cheap stuffed animals and plastic jewelry. Six people sat in a row, trying to hit a clown’s nose with water guns so they could pop a balloon. Conryu grinned when they passed a ring toss game that used glass milk bottles for targets.
“Remember the year you made me spend thirty bucks trying to win you a stuffed cow at the ring toss?”
“Sixth grade. I was in my ‘barnyard animals are cute’ phase. I thought you were going to strangle that carnie when he tried to talk you into taking the giraffe instead of the cow.”
“I could have
bought you an actual calf for what I spent on that game. I wasn’t going anywhere with a stupid giraffe.”
“You were really sweet.” They linked arms and continued on.
A little past the bumper cars Conryu caught a whiff of frying food. Not far now.
“Five bucks says Jonny has funnel cake in one hand and a giant soda in the other.”
“Double or nothing Rin’s trying to steal some.”
“You’re on.”
Conryu spotted Jonny trying in vain to keep Rin from tearing a chunk out of his funnel cake. The pair of them were standing beside a picnic table ten feet from the concession stands. They both had on jeans, though Jonny’s were torn and Rin’s a size too small.
Rin reached for another piece and Jonny tried to stop her without spilling a half-gallon soda. Conryu glanced at Maria and they both started laughing.
When he caught his breath Conryu said, “Do we know our friends or what?”
Maria managed to nod between giggles.
“Hey!” Jonny waved them over and in the process moved his snack out of Rin’s reach.
They all sat around the table. Conryu snatched a chunk of funnel cake and ate it before Jonny could complain. “What’s wrong, Jonny, didn’t they have full gallon cups?”
“Give me a break, I’m splurging. Saw you on the news last night. You really laid that dude out.”
Conryu shrugged. “He almost kept me from coming today. Mom was pretty freaked out. Detective Chang stopped by this morning, he pulled the case. Looks like I’m in the clear for now.”
“So what’s the plan?” Maria asked. “The usual? Too much food, ride the rides, waste some money on games, head home and sleep it off?”
“Works for me.” Jonny took a huge bite of cake and almost choked.
“They have a new ride this year,” Rin said. “It’s called the Haunted Cavern. Sort of a mixture of haunted house and roller coaster. Looks like fun.”
“It must be popular,” Jonny said when he’d caught his breath. “Damn thing takes up a quarter of the grounds. Bet it took a week to set up and they did it right in the center of the park.”
“That’s not far from here,” Maria said. “Let’s check it out.”
“I thought it was going to be food then rides,” Jonny said.
“You’re always hungry.” Conryu grinned. “A pound of funnel cake ought to hold you for one ride. It probably only takes five minutes.”
“You always take Maria’s side.”
“That’s because I’m always right.” Maria flipped her hair over her shoulder.
“She’s got you there, Jonny,” Rin said.
“Okay, okay, I know when I’m beat.” Jonny inhaled his food and stood up. “Let’s do this.”
The four of them walked toward the center of the carnival, Jonny and Rin in the front, Conryu and Maria bringing up the rear. The darkness increased with every step.
Conryu shivered. He knew he wasn’t imagining it, the grounds had never gotten this dark before.
Maria grabbed his hand and held it in a death grip. “Do you feel it? Something’s wrong.”
“You mean the chill? I think it’s just because so much sun is being blocked.”
“It’s not a physical chill. It feels like someone walked over my grave.”
“What does that mean?” Conryu’s gaze darted around, trying to spot whatever was making Maria nervous. In the shadow he couldn’t see more than fifteen feet in any direction. The only real light came from the flashing bulbs above a concession stand selling hotdogs and all they did was make the shadows dance.
They’d slowed to a crawl, letting Jonny and Rin pull well ahead.
Jonny glanced back. “What’s the matter, you two chickening out?”
“Come on, Maria. This ride looks really cool.” Rin waved at them to hurry up.
Maria huddled against Conryu’s chest, her whole body trembling. “We need to go, now.”
“Alright.” Conryu motioned Jonny and Rin to go on ahead. “Maria’s not feeling well. I think I’d better take her home.”
Rin rushed back. “What’s wrong? You haven’t eaten anything yet so it can’t be the food.”
A deep snarl filled the air and red spots of light appeared behind Jonny and Rin.
“It’s too late,” Maria murmured.
The shadows swirled around the crimson lights, getting darker and more solid by the second. Half a minute later two hounds as black as a moonless night stood in the middle of the carnival grounds, their eyes glowing like molten lava.
“Cool special effects,” Jonny said.
“They aren’t special effects.” Maria tugged Conryu back the way they’d come. “Those are shadow hounds. Run!”
Conryu and Maria ran back toward the gate, Rin and Jonny right on their tails. They dodged annoyed visitors when they could and shoved them aside when they couldn’t.
Shouts turned to screams when the shadow hounds let out a roar that was half bark and half snarl.
“They’ve fully entered our plane of existence,” Maria said.
“Plain English for those of us whose mother isn’t a wizard,” Conryu said between gasps.
He glanced over his shoulder. The hounds were pounding after them, ignoring all the other patrons. Rin had fallen three paces behind Jonny.
The hounds were only ten feet from her.
“Can I hurt them?” Conryu asked.
“No. They have no substance. They kill by draining the life from you. Only magic can destroy them.”
The hounds leapt over Rin and kept on coming.
Just as he feared. They were after him.
“Jonny, break right, circle around, and help Rin. Get her out of here.”
“What about those things?”
“They want me. I’ll draw them off. Help Rin and get out of here.”
“No way, bro. I’m not letting you face those things on your own.”
“I’m not going to face them, I’m going to run like hell for my bike. Now go.”
Jonny scowled, nodded and broke off. The hounds ignored him the same way they did Rin. If Conryu had had any doubts about his theory, that settled it. He turned to Maria.
“Don’t even say it.” She glared at him.
He grinned despite the danger. That was exactly the reaction he’d expected. “I was going to say, is there any way we can stop them?”
“Not without magic.”
Conryu snagged a ketchup bottle off the counter of a food stand, spun, and flung it at the hound behind them. It passed through the monster without slowing it.
Wait, weren’t there two hounds?
He turned back just as the second hound emerged from the shadow of a dart game and leapt at them.
Conryu tugged Maria aside. The hound missed them by inches. The chill of its passing froze Conryu to the bone.
He staggered as suddenly cold muscles started to cramp. “How much further?”
“I can see the fence. We’re almost there. What are those people doing?”
Conryu looked up. Hundreds of people were milling around in front of the fence.
“Shit!” Maria said.
“What?” Maria never swore. Whatever she saw must be bad.
“There’s a barrier. No way we can escape that way.”
They couldn’t lead the hounds to all those people. It would be a slaughter.
“What do we do?”
“I don’t know.” Maria sounded on the verge of tears.
Conryu knew. He just hoped Maria didn’t hate him, assuming he somehow survived.
He worked his hand free of her grip and lunged left between a pair of stalls. If he could draw the hounds away she’d have a chance of escaping.
“Conryu!” Maria screamed after him.
He ignored her pained shout. Conryu needed an open space, somewhere they couldn’t sneak up on him He had to keep the things busy long enough for everyone to escape.
Straight ahead was the petting zoo. The panicked animals had smashed
the fence and fled, leaving a round opening. He doubted he’d find anything better.
A chill on his back was the only warning he got. Conryu leapt to the right, rolled, and sprang back to his feet.
The two shadow hounds stood facing him, wisps of darkness rising off them like steam, jagged black fangs filling their mouths.
They circled right and Conryu went left, trying to keep the monsters in front of him. He wished he knew more about them. Unlike Maria, this was all new to him.
The hounds rushed him.
One leapt high for his throat and the other lunged low for his legs. Conryu jumped and twisted, going over one and under the other. Passing so close between them left him shaking with cold.
All at once it grew brighter. The hounds whined and some of the warmth returned to Conryu’s shaking body.
The whines turned to snarls as the hounds gathered themselves to leap again.
Lances of white light shot out, piercing their sides and driving the monsters to the ground. More beams, these orange as flames, came from another direction, engulfing the hounds and burning them to nothing.
“Conryu!” Mrs. Kane waved at him, her hands still crackling with white light.
Conryu slumped to his knees. It was over, for now anyway. He’d survived, though he doubted his mother would ever let him out of the apartment again.
Maria hit him with a flying tackle, wrapping her arms around his neck and crying at the same time. “You scared me to death! I ought to slug you for ditching me like that. What were you thinking?”
“Let him breathe, dear.” Mrs. Kane placed her hand on his back and warmth and energy flowed into him.
Conryu had never been healed by a wizard before, but if it felt like this he wouldn’t mind doing it again. Maria shifted, settling onto his lap. “Thanks, Mrs. Kane. If you hadn’t gotten here when you did I’m not sure I could have dodged those things again.”
“It’s a wonder you dodged them once,” another voice said.
Conryu moved Maria a bit to the side so he could see who was speaking. It was the blond wizard from the Department, Terra. She must have shot the fire blast.
“Thanks for the help. Where’d those things come from?”
“That’s what we’re here to determine,” Terra said.
The Impossible Wizard: The Aegis of Merlin Book 1 Page 7