by Simon Archer
“Andi, Vila, return to me!” I yelled louder than I’d intended as I slid my fingers across the clip. The phrase sounded cheesy to my own ears, but hey, I’d never summoned them before. Well, not on purpose anyway. I had been mostly asleep when I’d accidentally rubbed the coin they were in initially. Then it occurred to me. I hadn’t needed to say anything at all. I didn’t say anything the first time. Running my fingers over the coin was all it had taken for them to appear.
The clip immediately began to shake. It very gradually emitted a golden glow, and when the shine was at its brightest, a purple ball of light shot out of it. Then a blue one followed. The lights started whizzing around the room like wild pinballs, bouncing off of anything in their way. They got bigger and bigger until finally there was a nearly blinding flash of color.
I shielded my eyes against the brightness with my hand for a moment. When I removed my hand a moment later, Andi and Vila were floating in front of me with magnificent smiles on their faces. Both still had a light glow around them that was fading as they returned to normal.
“How was your vacation?” I asked them jokingly, trying to hide my nervousness about their being gone.
“It was SO GREAT!” Andi burst out. “When we are in the clip, we tend to stick to our own worlds for the most part or in a smaller area where our worlds overlap. I’ve never been on a full tour of Vila’s world. It is absolutely beautiful! I got so many ideas for redecorating my own world!” Her excitement was stunning and comical. She made it sound like she’d been gone for weeks.
“I’m so happy you liked it! I’ve wanted to show it to you for centuries!” Vila clapped her hands and bounced up and down in the air.
“Why haven’t you?” Andi asked, sincerely surprised at Vila’s comment.
“I really don’t have a logical answer for that,” she said, tipping her head curiously as if she was mentally asking herself the question again.
“Well, I can’t wait to go back! And you are welcome to come to visit my realm any time you’d like!” Andi chimed. She threw her arms around Vila, and the two hugged tightly. I was reminded of the girls in the halls of my high school after summer break when they were seeing each other for the first time in months. The image made me smile.
“Don’t go making too many vacation plans,” I started. “That was the longest five minutes of my life!”
“Awe,” they echoed in unison. “That’s so sweet of you!”
“Hey, you should come to see it too!” Andi suggested. Vila nudged her on the arm.
“He can’t,” she whispered, shooting me a sidelong glance.
“Oh,” Andi replied quietly. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Understandable. I don’t think we’ve ever met a human we’d even consider showing it to. At least, I haven’t, but the magic was designed to hide us from people, for the most part,” Vila told her.
“That’s unfortunate,” I interjected. “I would love to see both your homes.” They floated over, and the two of them wrapped their arms around my neck.
“It was great to be there, but we are happy to be back here with you!” Vila clarified.
“I’m grateful you are back!” I told them both. They let go, traded their mist for legs, and sat down on either side of the table.
“Let’s test that network,” Andi said, nodding her head towards my laptop.
“Good idea,” I replied. Working with a high-profile tech company had its privileges in that I had access to network testing capabilities. I reached forward and fired up the first test, then the second, and finally, a third. I sat back and waited for the results to ping back. All three came back with a strong signal report.
“All the dinging is good, yes?” Andi asked as she listened to my computer.
“It is great! You ladies did a perfect job!” I complimented them. “Now, we have to let them know about it!” Nobody would expect the network to be up and were most likely using private hotspots for any connection they could get. I hopped over to my search engine and looked up the contact information for the news station covering the disaster. I grabbed my phone and dialed. A call center agent answered on the third ring.
“Hi there,” I started before the agent could even introduce themself. “This is Bennett Anders with 14Tech. I need you to get some information to your newscaster on-site where the tornado destruction is.”
“I’m not sure we can--”
“Yes, you can,” I interrupted him. “We have just restored the internet access and phone signal to the area, and they need to be informed immediately so those people can start contacting their families!” There was a long pause on the other end of the phone.
“How did you do that?” the young man asked, disbelief ringing in his voice.
“I don’t have time to tell you the details, just get the information out,” I barked. Guilt instantly swelled up. “And come by 14Tech whenever you are free next week, and I’ll show you some of the amazing ins and outs of technological capabilities if you’re interested,” I added to make up for my crankiness.
“That would be amazing!” the agent said enthusiastically. “I’ll get the information out right now. My apologies, what was your name again?”
“Bennett Anders,” I repeated.
“Perfect, thank you!” He was so excited, even though I was certain he didn’t know who I was, that he hung up before saying goodbye. Andi and Vila started laughing.
“You just made that kid’s day, you realize that?” Andi giggled.
“Hey, on the off chance that he’s not working newsroom phones with the intention of going into broadcasting as a career, maybe he’ll pursue tech that he may not have otherwise had a chance to pursue for lack of exposure,” I replied.
“It’s always reassuring to see your first wish still hard at work!” Vila winked at me.
She was right. I often didn’t actively remember my wish to make people’s lives better. Just then, the doorbell rang, and the first thought in my mind was about how my day was about to get better. I walked to the door and pulled it open.
It was Lottie. The sun was shining off her raven black hair so brightly she looked like she had an angelic glow about her. She had on a low cut blouse and flowing skirt that showed off her shapely legs. She pushed her sunglasses up on her head and smiled up at me with the most magnetic eyes I imagined were possible for a human to have.
“Hey there, you,” she greeted me flirtatiously.
I leaned down and kissed her instead of telling her hello. When I went to stand back up, she grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me back to her lips. Feeling her soft mouth on mine, all I could think of was that one day I would do this, and when I stood up, she’d be my wife. When we finally did separate, I took her by the hand, led her in the house, and closed the door behind her. She looped my arm around her and cuddled up to my side with her arm around my waist as we walked to the dining room to coordinate relief for a lot of people who needed our help. I was the luckiest man in the world.
14
Dave
When I woke up that Sunday around noon, it was the first time I’d felt completely in control of my destiny. Power coursed through my veins. I threw my blanket off and stood up out of the old cot that was my bed. Soon I would have the most luxurious bed money could buy. I looked down at my hands. They were the hands of a king-in-waiting. I was one giant step closer to bringing my plan to completion. When I was done, no one would dare challenge my power.
I walked to the tiny kitchen in my shabby apartment and clicked on the television while I made coffee. A newscaster was reporting a phenomenal tornado event that happened the night before. The images on the screen were incredible. Buildings leveled, people displaced, destruction everywhere. There were small groups of crying survivors on their knees, praying for a miracle to put their lives back together. I felt a warm tingling in my stomach, and a smile spread across my face.
When the idea to test the ferocity of the power I’d accumulated up to that point came to me, I
spent quite a while deciding the best way to do so. Destroying an old building, collapsing a bridge, and blowing up a powerplant all came to mind first. Then I’d heard the wind outside my apartment window, making the trees rustle, and the idea came to me. There couldn’t be a greater demonstration of power than to control the most powerful force known to man; Mother Nature. I spent hours pouring over my spellbook, combining phrases and studying techniques for the magic I was going to wield. I had such a mastery over the information that I never had a doubt I could put the proper spell together. I simply needed to perfect the process in my memory, so I didn’t have to be distracted, looking things up while trying to perform the magic. Finally, late into the night, I was ready.
I had collected my artifacts and laid them around me on my living room floor. I would only actually need to use the blanket, but having them all present only added to my power. In front of me, I had prepared a two-liter soda bottle by filling it three-quarters full with distilled water. There were a variety of herbs needed for the spell, so I had put them in separate dip cups I’d stolen from various restaurants over the years, and laid them in a circle around the soda bottle.
I turned off all the lights in the apartment except the tiny one above the stove, which shed just enough light for me to see the herb dishes I would be pulling ingredients from. I cut a piece of string to twelve inches, and laid it next to the soda bottle, spread out straight towards the west. Once everything was in place, my heart started racing. I’d thought when the moment came that I would be nervous, or anxious, or scared even, but I wasn’t. Just the thought of what I was about to do was exhilarating. I knew that if it worked, my larger plan was well within my grasp.
I started the spell by lightly waving the blanket in the air over the soda bottle while visualizing the winds to the west stirring violently. I put the blanket to the side and one-by-one, started adding the herbs to the soda bottle. When there was only one left, thistle, I picked the bottle up by the neck and started swirling it around. An incredible sense of impatient anticipation flashed through me as I saw the whirlpool form in the liquid inside. I swirled faster and faster until the whirlpool reached all the way to the bottom of the bottle. Then I set the bottle down, quickly added a pinch of thistle to the water, and picked up the blanket again. I wadded it up in my hands and started moving my hands in a circle over the bottle. I concentrated on my thoughts of the wind, and suddenly, in my mind, I saw gathering clouds. More clouds rolled in as the wind whipped faster as I circled my hands more furiously above the bottle.
The blanket began to glow in my hands, and a connective energy started moving through my hands and down my arms. When it reached my chest, I knew it was time. I threw the blanket straight up in the air, recited the spell I’d written, then caught just one corner of the blanket on its way back down. When the glowing blanket straightened out, it was centered over the soda bottle, and a lightning bolt of pure magic thundered down into the bottle. It went all the way to the bottom of the whirlpool, out the bottom of the bottle, to the string, and shot to the end of it. The blowback was so great it knocked me onto my back, five feet away.
I scrambled to my knees and looked at the bottle. The whirlpool inside it slowly reversed itself and, instead of going down, started to spin up towards the top of the bottle. Soon it exited the mouth of the bottle and wound itself toward where the end of the string lay. When it was directly over the end of the string, a jolt of electricity struck the string, and the funnel closed down around it. The string was pulled inside the funnel. As soon as the last bit of string was out of sight, the funnel lit up like a shorted-out transformer and then blew apart. Water splashed everywhere, and the apartment went dark again.
I scrambled to turn on the light and then went back to my magic circle. To my surprise, everything was in the exact same place. The only difference was that the string was gone, there was water on the carpet, and the bottle was empty. I picked up the bottle to examine it, and when I did, a shock shot through me, and I could see the result of my spell in my mind. The massive funnel cloud descended from the sky, and the tornado touched down. Elated excitement filled me as it wreaked havoc on everything in its path. When it was done, it simply vanished.
I fell to my knees and cried tears of unadulterated joy. I had done it! I had commanded nature and her wrath. It was beautiful.
When the tears stopped flowing, I wiped my eyes and looked at my circle once more. It was time to tuck my precious artifacts away once more for safekeeping. I reached over to pick up my magical rope when I realized something. All of the herb dishes still had herbs left in them. A slow satisfaction crawled across my mind as I made the instant decision to use them up. I took the bottle to the kitchen and poured more distilled water into it. I cut another piece of string, and I returned to the circle. I sat the string and bottle down, taking my seat behind them once more. It turned out I had measured out quite a bit more herbs than I’d needed because I completed the spell a total of thirteen times before the dip cups were empty.
The TV changed to a commercial break, and I blinked myself back to the present. I looked at the coffee cup in my hand and decided I was thirsty for something else. My entire body was buzzing with anticipation of my next magical act. It would be performed very soon. I reveled in the feeling as I pulled a glass from the cupboard and filled it with vodka. I took a sip and reached for the TV remote. I flipped the channels until I found another one reporting on the horrible incident, as they called it. I put my vodka to my lips again, drank, and then looked at my glass. I knew I would be upgrading the contents of my cup to a much more expensive brand in no time. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed a number I’d saved quite some time ago. I continued to drink while the line rang. Soon, the other end picked up.
“Jack Richards,” he answered.
“Hi, Jack, this is Dave Klerik. I was calling to see if tomorrow would be a good time to swing by and pick up the item we’d discussed last week,” I told him in my professional-filmmaker voice.
“Yeah, sure, Dave,” Jack told me. “I have to go. It’s crazy around here. Just swing by whenever.”
“Thank you, sir. See you tom--” Jack had already hung up. That was okay, though. I had what I needed: an appointment to pick up my last artifact. I chuckled as I set the phone on the counter and turned the TV volume up.
“The citizens of Pillouwa owe a debt of gratitude to the nearby technology company, 14Tech. The company leaped into action upon hearing of last night’s events and has already begun coordinating food and temporary shelter efforts. 14Tech is footing the bill for residents to be housed, and through some new type of technology we have yet to learn more about, they have restored wireless internet to the area so that survivors can contact their extended families.”
The newscaster had a look of sympathy and appreciation on his face that made my stomach turn. That must have been why Jack had to get off the phone so quickly. No doubt Bennett had a hand in covering that housing bill. I wasn’t too concerned, however. I smiled at the thought that it wouldn’t be too long before Bennett wouldn’t be able to worry about saving the unfortunate any longer.
15
By the time the final donation number for the day had come in, and I’d transferred the money to the Pillouwa relief fund, it was well past time for dinner. Lottie, Vila, Andi, and I had worked all day from the house while Jack coordinated efforts from the office. We’d managed to get through to some of the teams on site of the disaster to get a first-hand account of what they needed most, and we could hear the sadness in the background. While it felt good to be able to help, the process left all of us emotionally drained. We decided the easiest solution to the dinner issue was to order in, so we chose a local Chinese restaurant and phoned in for delivery. Twenty minutes later, a young gentleman showed up with our food, and we sat to eat. None of us spoke until we had enough food in our stomachs to at least stop the growling that we were making fun of before our food arrived. After General Tsao’s chicken, crab-cheese
wontons, and the best hot-and-sour soup I’d ever tasted, I sat back in my chair, took a deep breath and let it out.
“I guess a good way to shut all of us up is to just starve us for a while and then let us loose on take-out,” I joked. Lottie swallowed the last bite of her chicken lo-mein and nodded her head.
“No doubt! I haven’t been that hungry in a while,” she agreed. “Great pick on the restaurant.”
“Vila is the one who suggested it. She’s been wanting to try it for a while now,” I told her. Vila smiled and started to nod, as well.
“We walked by it that once, and it just smelled so good!” she chimed in.
“Yeah,” Andi started. “And Vila and I haven’t Chinese like that for at least two-hund--”
“For at least two hard, long months,” Vila jumped in. I stared at Andi. I couldn’t believe she’d almost slipped up like that. She recovered quickly, however.
“I just love it so much. Definitely one of my favorites. If I go too long, I swear I get cranky,” she laughed. Her laugh sounded natural enough, but I could tell she was apologizing to Vila with her eyes.
“I’m a fan of Chinese, but Italian food is where my weakness lies,” Lottie added. She hadn’t caught on to the girls’ silent communication.
“What is your favorite dish?” Andi asked. She wanted to do anything to steer the conversation far away from Chinese food at that point.
“Hands-down, fettuccine chicken Florentine,” Lottie answered.
“That’s one of mine too,” Vila interjected. “The last time I ordered it, though, there was a recall on spinach, and no one was serving it.” She pretended to pout, and Lottie giggled.
“I have to say, you girls look just radiant today,” Lottie complimented them both. “What’s the change?” Vila smiled and shrugged her shoulders.