Broken Magic

by Catherine Vale

  But she wasn’t even lifting a finger to cast a simple spell against me. She tilted her head, her red hair flowing over the pointy shoulders of her dress. She fixed me in a sizzling stare, drying up the air in my lungs, leaving me breathless for a few terrible seconds. I could feel the heat between us and how easily she could end my life right here and now. She was that powerful, but something was staying her hand.

  “This realm and all its magic belongs to me,” she hissed through a smile that was completely out of place on her pinched, milk-white face. I shuffled back a step but couldn’t go far. That swirling energy was building up and beckoning me closer.

  “No one claims magic,” I said, clenching my fists harder, my fingernails cutting into my palms. “Magic claims us from the moment we’re born. You have no right to take that from us.” Sweat beaded at my hairline and ran down my back. My entire body was thrumming hard. Whatever was inside me from that shard of broken mirror was hot. I needed cool myself down, but I didn’t know how.

  The Queen’s smile widened, revealing the pointed ends of her teeth. “I should kill you where you stand for daring to challenge me.” She lifted her dark eyebrows and her eyes widened. The shine in them made me burn hotter still, as that swirling energy brought us closer together. The charm lying between her small breasts flashed once, a sudden gleam that came from within, and my guts twisted. “But I want that dark power for my own.”

  She lifted a skeletal hand, her fingers covered in jeweled rings, each gem sparkling in the unnatural light. I skidded across the floor, my boots squeaking on the tile. Once I’d crossed the distance, I knew her hand would close around my throat. She was bringing me close, so she could steal whatever rotten, but potent poison that had festered inside me since I’d cut my hand on that dark mirror.

  Digging my heels into the floor, I stopped the forward motion, though I was now within grasping distance. I shuffled back again, swallowing to keep that black venom from shooting out of the well overflowing inside me. The whispering hadn’t stopped. I needed to destroy the Queen, and then I could have the realm. I could make her suffer if I wanted—the suffering would make it sweeter—and once I’d tasted that sweetness, I could make other things suffer as well. It never had to end. I could do whatever I wanted. Allowing the power unfolding within me to unleash itself, meant that no one would ever be able to stand against me.

  I shook my head, desperate to clear it. I needed the obstacles to move out of my way, allowing me access to the pure light of my own magic. I had to get my hands on that amulet.

  “I decide what happens, not you,” the Queen snapped, her voice rising with each word spoken. “I decide everything. I can stop the wind if I like. I can even stop time itself.” Her eyes burned with a vibrant, maniacal light. “Once I have consumed that shadowy power running through you, no one will be able to stand against me ever again.”

  I couldn’t imagine possessing that kind of power. Just having the evil flower spreading its noxious petals inside me was making me question how tightly my sanity was bolted in place.

  “You’re crazy,” I said, my voice wavering, not from fear, but from the trembling horror inside me. Proximity to the Queen unlocked it somehow, and I didn’t know how to cast it out again. I was going to succumb to it. That was a forgone conclusion—I wanted to use it, that was the worst part—it was just a matter of when.

  “I’m going to tear that power from your core with my bare hands, white witch, and take it into myself while you take your dying breath at my feet.” Her smile widened as she stepped closer, the glee in her eyes more frightening than anything she’d said so far. “Of all the hearts that I have consumed over my long lifetime, I will enjoy the taste of yours the most.”

  I found it difficult to breathe, difficult to think, difficult to do anything besides unraveling that awful power overtaking my core. She could protect herself against that, the way she had on the balcony. And, after I used it, I’d be too weak to protect myself. While I shivered from the nausea inducing aftereffects, the Queen would rip the heart from my chest and eat it right in front of me. I had to get my hands on that damned charm before she struck me down.

  The Queen lifted both hands this time, the energy around us whipping into a furious cyclone. I leaned back against it. My tearing eyes closed to slits, as I resisted being dragged closer to her with everything I had. Some of that poisonous energy escaped and shot at the throne, which exploded in a shower of wood and stone.

  The Queen let loose a furious shriek and tugged harder.

  I screamed behind clenched teeth, my entire body straining against the solid, moving wall of her power. It felt like she was dragging me closer by my ribcage. I waited for it to tear loose from my skin, delivering my heart to her.

  A roaring shape shot past me and barreled into the Queen, who stumbled backwards into the wall but didn’t fall. It was enough to make her release her hold on me. The fury of the wind died down, letting the air enter my lungs again. The building pressure drained from my throbbing head like helium from an overfilled balloon.

  Gasping, I wiped at my eyes to see what had happened. Grayson was next to the Queen. Her bony fingers were locked around his neck, squeezing so hard that I could see every bone beneath her papery, white skin. She was incredibly tall, nearly past Grayson’s eye level, and she seemed even more substantial, clad in the many layers of her dress. She lifted him from the floor, his toes leaving the ground as his pretty eyes bulged from his head and his legs fluttered weakly. He clawed at her hand in an attempt to free himself, but her grip didn’t loosen.

  I lunged, lifting my knees to take several long, springing steps across the checkerboard floor, closing the distance between us while the knife’s edge of her attention was elsewhere. The Queen’s blazing eyes were pinned on Grayson’s red, gasping face, her mouth pulled down in a gruesome sneer that bared her pointy teeth. I closed my fingers around the amulet hanging from her neck by a silver chain and pulled hard. It came loose in my hand.

  The Queen bellowed, shaking the air in the room and trembling through the walls around us. The sound echoed up into the high ceilings. I stumbled back several steps, blinking and clutching the amulet. It heated up in my hand. That awful, venomous flower that had opened at my middle was nothing compared to the shock of power surging into my palm from its hot surface. And it spoke to me. The words echoed in my head, so loudly I couldn’t hear my own thoughts.

  I could have whatever I desired, that power gleaming in the amulet assured me—magic, money, the Queen’s head separated from her willowy body, even her evil heart, if I desired it. I could gather all that luscious, inky black sorcery into myself and power this realm on my whim. I could do whatever I wanted, have whatever I wanted. But it had even more to offer me than that. Its whisper took up all the available space in my head, so I couldn’t do anything but listen. It read my deepest desires. I could have my parents back. I could use the poison, that was spreading from my injured hand to the rest of my body, to finally find out what had happened to them and figure out how to return them to me. It didn’t even matter if they’d been killed. Even death wouldn’t be able to stand in my way, once I opened myself completely to what the amulet offered.

  Falling against the wall, my wide eyes moved away from the sight of Grayson struggling to free himself from the Queen. That power kept whispering to me, promising that my mother and father would come back to me—the thing I wanted most in this or any other world. I looked back up to the Queen. Then I clenched my teeth, turned from the sight of Grayson slipping from the Queen’s grasp, and smashed the amulet into the wall, shattering it against my palm.

  A pulse of white energy sizzled out from beneath my hand. That flicker of lightning flashed over the room, blinding me momentarily and warming my skin in a gentle caress that I never wanted to end. It expanded in all directions, escaping from the door and shooting up through the glass ceiling, shattering it and fleeing up into the sky beyond. Tiny pieces of glass rained down on us from above.
>
  The Queen wailed, the sound incredibly sharp in my ears, but unlike before, her voice did not make the walls tremble. She’d lost that power as soon as the amulet was destroyed, cutting her off from the magic she’d been stealing for years.

  I felt the exact moment when my magic reengaged inside me—that deep, wonderful well that I could drink from whenever I needed it. The other power was still in there, trying its best to poison that pure, cool well, but it was a relief to have my gifts back, to be able to read the current in the air, the subtle shifts that kept me safe no matter my surroundings. It was the sudden change in the energy that drew my eyes up to the scuffle in front of me, my nose itching with a spicy new scent.

  Grayson’s blue eyes glowed, as though lit from behind, and steam came from his nose as it elongated. The sounds of bones grinding, snapping, and stretching beneath his skin turned my already uneasy stomach. I couldn’t avert my eyes away from him though, as his arms thickened and grew a layer of glossy green scales. Those scales spread over his entire body. His spine elongated, and his legs thickened to match the muscly tree trunks of his arms. His neck stretched as his face became pointed and reptilian. Those gorgeous eyes were nearly purple now, and his hair hardened into golden horns at the back of his head and a series of smaller spikes that ran down his thick, agile neck. His transformation was beautiful and mesmerizing. A spicy smell, that had previously only been hinted at on Grayson, overtook the room. The heat of the fire burning inside of him sizzled in the air around us. He was magnificent. His dark green scales caught the light, while his mouth opened to bare two rows of pointed teeth the size of my fingers.

  He turned his long head to the Queen, his neck moving with an easy, hypnotic grace, and opened his mouth to release a stream of crackling yellow fire. His entire body strained into the effort.

  She put up her hands, protecting herself with a wall of translucent energy, but it was weaker than it had been on the balcony without the stolen power in the amulet to strengthen it.

  Hot pain stabbed into my hand. Crying out, I looked down, expecting to find a knife buried into my palm up to the hilt, but it was the pieces of the broken amulet. They were fusing to my palm—the sharp pieces burrowing into my skin to join that infected corruption from the dark mirror. The magic tingled through my veins and moved rapidly toward my core. Now that I had my own power back now, I fought against it. But I’d never felt magic like this—so dark and so inviting. It frightened me and fascinated me in turn. I wanted to let it take over, to have it end this any way that it wanted, so I could take control of this realm and find out what had happened to my parents. If this poisonous sorcery could bring them back to me, the consequences for using it would be worth it.

  I gritted my teeth in an attempt to steel myself, but the part of me that could resist was weakening quickly. This power was wrong, but it never stopped whispering. It would get to my core, and I wouldn’t be able to stand against it then. It would have me, but I would also have it.

  Grayson’s ear-piercing roar lifted me out of the panic swirling inside my head. The Queen had him by the throat again, just underneath his magnificent head, and was choking him with both hands. The deadly curses she murmured moved directly from her fingers into him. Her hair was singed and smoking and soot smudged her cheek. Her eyes never left Grayson’s face, and the more he struggled to breathe, the wider her smile became. She looked ready to eat him alive with those sharp little teeth. She was more powerful than I’d imagined, even without the amulet. And while I stood there enduring the contrasting magic battling inside me, she was going to kill Grayson.

  CHAPTER 18

  ~

  I WATCHED THE QUEEN AS the power built inside me, trembling in my muscles, penetrating my bones, and infecting my blood. That blackness had reached my core. I knew its strength, what it could do, and how quickly it could end this. I could use it to save Grayson. I could use it to do whatever the hell I wanted. The hatred inside me was as hot as the magic burning at my core—that cool well heating up until it boiled over. Letting it fill up my insides, it bathed me in steam and drenched my skin in running sweat.

  I wanted to see the Queen destroyed, torn limb from limb as she shrieked in agony. I longed to stand over her, drinking in what was left of her power, slaking a thirst that would only grow the more I indulged it. I knew that—it was how this kind of sorcery worked. Once I fed it, I could never stop feeding it. But that was okay too. I could take over all the realms and make them bow at my feet with the brute strength of the magic thrumming in my cells.

  Opening my arms, the power moved beneath my skin and brought me up onto the tips of my toes as I watched the battle scene unfold in front of me. That blackness whispered harder, the words beating against the inside of my skull—use that hatred to kill, destroy, and consume, in order to see your parents at the end of this.

  Blinking, I looked down at my hands as my heels sank to touch the floor again. The opal ring on my finger shone even brighter now. Its shifting colors widened my eyes. I saw my mother’s face as she leaned to take my hands, comforting me after I’d childishly threatened to use a spell to teach a bully a lesson at school.

  “Magic is good because it comes from here,” she said, touching my heart, her green eyes filled with kindness. “Always consult that pure, fair place inside yourself before you cast a spell. Magic isn’t for revenge, Alicia. It’s for setting things right.”

  I took in a deep, wavering breath. This wasn’t who I was—this power-crazed witch who would destroy anyone and anything who refused to bow to her. That darkness churning at my core and trying to overtake that pure, clean magic I’d practiced my whole life, didn’t belong to me. I was good. I could feel the strength of my parents’ love, even after all these years without them. They wouldn’t want me to find them this way. They would want me to continue their legacy of casting spells through love, with an honest concern for those around me, and for what was right. Hatred had no place in magic. I refused to let it guide me.

  Grayson was weakening, his huge green body going slack as the Queen continued to strangle him with both hands. She was drawing power from him too, and he was fading fast.

  That untainted magic, as clean as fresh water, rose from the well inside me, and I drank. I pulled it all up, lifting my hands to point my fingers at the Queen, and let loose the flashing electric wave of white energy to save Grayson’s life. That pristine power worked through every inch of me, cleaning out that corrupted magic and cleansing the poison from my body. I directed that magic at the black heart beating in the Queen’s chest, the companion to the amulet I’d smashed against the wall.

  The Queen cried out as she was thrown back by the strength of the energy flowing from the well within me. Her fingers slipped from Grayson’s long throat, and he collapsed onto the black and white tiles, gasping and curling into a ball as his transformation rapidly reversed itself—his bones shortening and scales fading to tanned skin. Beside him, the Queen lay crumpled in a heap.

  The air shifted again, and I could feel the realm returning to what it had been—the rich, lush wonderland full of magical creatures, its beating heart released from the stranglehold.

  I sank to the ground and dropped my head, sucking in a series of relieved breaths. The delicate balance had been restored to this world and the evil Queen had been defeated.

  We were free.

  CHAPTER 19

  ~

  IT TOOK A FEW MINUTES to gather the strength I needed to even lift my head. My hands trembled, and it didn’t feel like I was getting enough air. My senses all fired at once from the sudden overload of quickly moving sensations that had returned to the air in the realm as soon as the magic was freed from the amulet. I could feel everything again—it was wonderful and terrible at the same time. This world teemed with magical energy, and its heart was so strong that its indomitable pulse battered my entire body.

  I had to give credit where credit was due—the defeated Queen had to have been one hell of a witch to kee
p all of this power running through herself. No wonder it had eventually loosened the strings of her sanity. I was close to madness from the short battle that had just been waged inside me. I couldn’t even fathom the strength the Queen must have used to hold all that power inside herself.

  I opened my eyes and stared down at my hands lying limp in my lap. The black skin on my palm had returned to its normal rosy color and the cuts were healed, though there would be scars. I heaved a sigh and tilted my head back on my neck to look to where Grayson was moaning on the tiled floor. He’d shifted all the way back to human form now, but the air still smelled spicy, like he might change back at a moment’s notice.

  “You’re alive, right?” I croaked. It felt like my throat had been the one the Queen had attacked with her spindly fingers. That poisonous power had squeezed every muscle in my body. I just wanted to relax against the wall until this exhaustion left my aching bones and quivering muscles, but I had to get to Grayson.

  “Yeah,” he groaned, but he didn’t get up. His broad back was turned to me, so I couldn’t see his face from where I was sitting. “Barely,” he chuckled.

  Not quite ready to chance standing up, I crawled over to him on my hands and knees, moving slowly and steadily. I put my hands on him, turning his shoulder and shifting him onto his back, so I could see his face. He grinned, looking sleepy with his blue eyes slightly unfocused. The skin beneath them was much darker than usual, like he hadn’t slept in days. But he was alive, and that was all that mattered.

  “We made it,” I said, smiling too. “We did it, Grayson.”

  “Can we get the fuck out of this realm now?” he asked, his golden eyebrows pressing together.