by E A Foley
She dismissed the doorway and focused on shocking Mr. Moreno so he’d let go. He countered her request with one of his own. His magic felt different from hers. Iris tried another request. He countered it again. She concentrated on his counter. Like Brett’s magic, it was a demand. One he could release much faster than her sluggish mind had the capability to manage right now.
Iris released all the power she held and closed herself off from accepting any more. There was no way she’d be able to counter anything he threw at her right now. She made to lie back on the grass but Mr. Moreno still held fast to her head.
“I just want to lie down for fuck’s sake,” she told him. He released her head. She muttered, “Thank you,” and leaned back with a groan. Iris stretched her arms above her head. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing. The world spun before righting itself a few rotations later. Her hearing returned. She opened her eyes and looked straight up. Several faces peered down at her. “Hi.”
“Nice to see you again,” Mr. Moreno said.
“Can’t say the same about you guys. What was it you wanted? I’m a little foggy right now.”
“To tell you the truth about magic on Earth, throughout the universe, and time.”
“That’s right. And you think telling me all this stuff will be enough for me to sign up and drink whatever Kool-aid you’re offering, right?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, you have about five minutes before I’ll have enough strength to counter anything you throw at me. I suggest you use it wisely.”
“Are you familiar with the Gaia hypothesis?”
“Something about the Earth being a single, living organism?”
“That answer works for our purposes. And what do you think about the Earth as a single, living organism?”
“It sort of makes sense since when I draw power into myself, I can feel it flowing throughout everything around me. Not just the living organisms, but the abiotic ones too. Rocks and water and such.”
“Good. And how does one access that power?”
“By being aware of it.” Iris felt like she was attending a lecture.
“Precisely. We are all aware of the power that flows throughout the Earth, but the power doesn’t stop there. It connects the entire solar system and universe together. We’re not strong enough to connect to that power source, but it’s out there.”
“What’s your point?”
“Another part of the Gaia hypothesis is that the Earth is a self-regulating system. When something needs to be altered or drastically changed, Gaia as a single entity produces the solution.”
Iris had a feeling where this was going and she didn’t like it. She kept her mouth shut and allowed Mr. Moreno to keep talking.
“That’s where we come in. We are Gaia’s solution to its current problem: homo sapiens. We are tasked with making sure the Earth—that Gaia—survives through mankind’s current bout of stupidity. The time to act will soon be at hand. There are more of us now than there ever have been. It’s up to us Oculus Prismatic to find and lead magic users through this difficult time.
“You, like I, possess the symbol of all living organisms and were born with a large responsibility to see your task in life through. So, Iris Faye, will you join with us to make sure mankind doesn’t destroy the precious gift it’s been given to live on?”
“That’s what you’re going with? The Gaia hypothesis. And here I was waiting for some kind of origin story. I guess it is one, in a way. Not quite the one I expected. As I’ve said before. I’ll pass, thanks for the offer, though.”
“May I ask why?”
There was an edge to Mr. Moreno’s voice. Iris ignored it and plunged on. “Because no person has the right to be judge, jury, and executioner to another human being and I get the impression that’s exactly what you are proposing. Besides, as I’ve told your son at least a dozen times now, I’m done with magic. No one person should possess this much power. It’ll go to their head.”
Even ready for the blow, Iris almost didn’t get her shield in place in time. She strengthened it before a few more blows rained down upon her.
“Imagine what we could accomplish together. We could shut down oil refineries. Demand renewable energy become the only source. Destroy all nuclear weapons on the Earth without injuring anyone. I’ve seen your shields. With a little more training, I know you’ll be strong enough to contain the blast of any major missile, including a nuclear one.”
“And why would I need to contain a blast? Because you’re planning on taking governments hostage until they reduce carbon emissions?”
“If necessary, yes.”
“When was the last time you had your sanity checked?”
“This coming from a girl who believes all her dreams come true.”
“You’ve got some good ideas, but I don’t agree with your plans on executing them. Try me again when you’ve come up with something a little saner. Like policy change or ways to make people understand science and facts better. Nice chatting with you all.” Iris waved, opened a doorway directly below her and fell through onto her bed. She closed the doorway in a flash and kept a tight hold on the power coursing through her veins. If there was ever a time to break her no-magic-in-Davis rule, it would be now.
No one pursued her, but the amount of power she held caught her roommates by surprise. All four of them were at her door in moments.
“Iris! Are you okay?”
“What the hell is going on?”
“When did you become that strong?”
“Where were you?”
Iris sighed. She was loath to do it, but she’d have to share this story with everyone. “I’m calling an emergency magic meeting. Can we have it here?”
“Yeah. Give us five to clean up, all right?” Rozlynd found her voice first.
“Thanks.”
Iris split her mind and sent her little self to unlock, then knock on everyone’s door in the Gallery. She had to tell everyone she’d explain everything once they got to her place and was tired of the questions, are you all right and what’s going on, after the third time she heard them but had to endure them several more times. Not for the first time, she wished there was a way to group text via the doors in the Gallery or something.
Chapter 29
Thirty minutes later Iris finished telling her story, including a brief statement about her dreams and run in with Brett across the street. She downplayed the pain he caused her. The story should have only taken about ten minutes, but all the comments and questions really slowed her pacing down and made the story so disjointed she had to repeat several parts two or three times. Iris let the information sink in. This time she didn’t slink off to her room to disappear. She stayed so anyone who wanted to could engage her in conversation.
“You think his idea is a good one, don’t you?” Jaden asked her.
“In a way, yes. I believe we, the human race, need to control the speed at which we’re destroying this planet. But his ideas are way off the mark on how to do it successfully. Not only would it expose the fact that magic users exist around the world and probably start some kind of witch hunt, but it’s not up to an individual person to decide this kind of stuff. No matter how stupid politicians, governments, and corporations are. Besides, I don’t think it’s the reason all of us magic users exist right now.”
“So what’s your theory?”
“I haven’t fully formulated one yet, but I’m pretty sure this one ain’t right.”
“Of course you haven’t. So, now that Brett’s tactics have escalated we’re going to fight back, right?”
Though he phrased it as a question, Iris knew Jaden didn’t mean it as one.
“No. We’re not. My previous statements about the Morenos doing the same thing we are still stands.”
“But they attacked you, Iris,” Rowen added his voice to the conversation. The rest of the room fell silent.
“All they did was proved to me that they’re crazy an
d it’d be best if we avoided them.”
“But what about all his followers?”
“What about them?”
“Who are they? Are they here at Davis? Should we be worried about them?”
“I have no idea who any of them are. Brett’s always been alone when I see him around campus. I don’t think we have to be concerned about them though. They’re definitely followers.”
“How do you know they won’t go off on their own?” Jaden’s anger mounted.
“Because this is between me and Brett,” she told Jaden. “All you guys need to do is keep your eyes open and let me know if he approaches any of you.”
Iris scanned the faces in front of her. A few heads nodded in understanding. Others looked like they still contemplated their opinions. Jaden’s opinions were obvious—he wasn’t convinced. But he thankfully didn’t continue arguing with her. When Rowen started asking about dinner plans, Iris allowed herself to relax a little. She had a lot to contemplate.
Brett took a hiatus from bugging Iris in person and stayed out of her dreams. It allowed her to concentrate on the end of the quarter and made her confident she’d pass all her classes going into finals week. She met with Matt for one last study session before their Japanese final and had to suffer through him and Kelly hanging their arms around each other at the last social of the year the following evening. It was enough to send her back to the garage for another drink.
“Anything stronger around here?” she asked Anwyn.
“Here,” Anwyn pulled a flask out of her back pocket and handed it to Iris.
Iris took a long swig, tried and failed at not coughing, and took a sip of her beer to wash whatever it was down. “Thanks, I think.”
“Sorry. Should’ve warned you to mix it rather than shoot it.”
“It’s fine. Took my mind off things.”
“Glad I could help.”
As Iris refilled her cup, Thorin accosted her.
“Tell me one thing,” he slurred at her. “How did a freshman get all those non-ass-early Japanese classes? And on top of that, how were they all the same classes as him?”
Iris didn’t need to follow Thorin’s gaze to know he was talking about Matt. “With a little power and computer system manipulation.”
“I knew it! You kept that one under wraps. Man. Did you do that for all your classes?”
“With seven-thirty chemistry? No. Just Japanese. It’s easier to have a study partner you’re comfortable with. I got lucky my first quarter and made sure to remain lucky for the next five. Seems my luck has run out though.”
“I’d say it’s just beginning again. You’re better off without him. I mean, you have me, remember?”
“And what about Kyxy?”
“What’re you talking about?” he tried and failed not to grin.
“I’ve seen the way you two flirt with each other. I know the smile you flash her well. You used to only give it to me. Besides. You told me to think of you as my hot, older brother at the end of last year.”
“I ruined all my chances that night, didn’t I?”
“Pretty much.”
“Can I try again?”
“Not tonight, Thorin. Not tonight. Quarters?”
“Hell yah! Let’s go see who’s playing.”
It was about the most positive ending Iris could expect from a great quarter that turned shitty. After a lot of soul-searching since her encounter with Brett, she realized she couldn’t stop using magic. Not if there were people like Brett and Mr. Moreno gathering magic users for some end-of-days bullshit reasons.
Besides, every time she had a problem or needed a friend, she turned to her magic-user friends. No one else knew her or understood her the way they did. They’d remained her friends even through all her bullshit about not wanting to be a magic user. Respected her decisions and helped support her.
All the extra time she had from no longer hanging out with Matt gave Iris the opportunity to spy on Brett. Turned out he’d been very busy that quarter. The three followers she’d seen him with the first time had turned into eight, and while Iris was confident she and her friends were still powerful enough to defeat them if it came to it, a few more followers on his end would tip the scales and make for a very difficult fight.
Iris didn’t have plans to go home for the summer. With an apartment to pay for and shifts open at the lab, she signed up for several along with a summer school class to play catch-up from only taking three classes the previous quarter. She also told her friends magic practice sessions were on again and promised Gavin, Sienna, and the twins an entire day for just the four of them.
Lesson one for the entire group was how to draw in power faster the way Brett showed her. No one was able to pull nearly as much power into their beings as Iris, but several came close to doubling their internal capacity, which in turn doubled the amount of magic they could use and what they could do. Iris dedicated her time to her friends rather than practicing the skills she hadn’t managed to perfect yet. She figured conditioning her brain and body for constant magic use was the smarter choice.
They took a week off from magic training in early July after Thorin’s roommates moved out. Instead, they switched to using magic for more practical matters. Rowen had the idea to form a doorway between his room at home and his new room in Thorin’s apartment on a weekend his parents were out of town. Since no one had ever tried forming a doorway for prolonged periods of time and Iris was the strongest, it fell to her to maintain her doorway for well over an hour while they hauled things from one room to the other.
Iris managed it just fine but felt useless when it came to moving furniture—which they did with magic so it didn’t really matter anyway. After Iris realized she didn’t have to use her entire focus to maintain the doorway, she let her mind wander a bit and discovered another magic user closer to Rowen’s house.
She focused on the person’s aura and was unsurprised to find Brett using his own power to see what they were up to. Iris drew deeper upon the flows surrounding them in case Brett decided to start something, but he released all the power he held and his aura disappeared a few seconds later. It was the only time she felt Brett all summer, let alone saw him.
Since moving Rowen was such a success, they moved Cirrus and Zarina in the same fashion, while Rowen and Morrigan drove up in Rowen’s car—Iris had to squash Rowen’s desire to drive his car through her doorway as someone was guaranteed to see. Morrigan had plans to stay for a week. Though everyone invited her to sleep at their place, she opted to crash on Zarina’s couch in her new apartment. They figured being in an apartment that already held four women might be too much for the lone wolf.
The week went by too fast. Too soon they dropped Morrigan off at the airport. At the last moment, Iris asked Morrigan if she was willing to start their Tuesday meetings back up. Morrigan agreed and Iris spent part of the drive home explaining what she’d been talking about. It got a discussion going about everyone else wanting martial arts training again. They bugged Iris to ask Morrigan daily for two weeks and finally, Iris conceded. Quarterstaff and bokken training began the last week of July.
Everyone loved both the magical and physical aspects of their training sessions. Not only were they able to get a mental workout, but they now had an easy way to stay fit. The only person who scoffed at the physical training was Jaden. It got to the point where everyone made it clear that his negativity was not welcome. By the time Morrigan started her third year of college in late August, Jaden stopped coming to any practice that focused on physical weapons training. The only person who minded was Zarina—which made Iris feel bad.
Determined to fix whatever it was that Jaden was upset about, Iris asked him to meet her at the island a few days before band retreat started.
“Thanks for meeting me.”
“No problem. What’s up?”
“I was just curious why you weren’t coming to all the practices anymore.”
“I don’t find them meaningful when th
ey don’t focus on magic.”
“Why?”
“For several reasons, actually. First, you can’t just carry a quarterstaff or sword around. Second, if you have to fight someone who can’t do magic, you don’t need a weapon of any kind even if they have one. Third, if you’re not skilled enough at something—especially martial arts or weapons—you’re more likely to injure yourself than the other person. And fourth, if you find yourself in need of fighting someone who can do magic, you’re probably going to need all your concentration for your magic and having a physical object is going to get in the way. Like so.”
Jaden put actions to his words and sent an array of air-based attacks at Iris. She didn’t have enough time to form a shield, so she dodged the first one, deflected the second, and managed to counter the third. By the time she requested a barrier surround her, he’d created a doorway and stepped through. Iris dropped the barrier. Used the link still connecting both locations to follow Jaden. It was a very bad idea.
A wall of air slammed into Iris like a semi-truck at freeway speeds. She hadn’t prepared anything against a potential attack. Her body flew backward through her still open doorway to land hard upon the sand of their practice island. The force of the blow propelled her across the beach. She slid over sand and small rocks, scraping up her exposed arms and legs. Any remaining air left her lungs in one huge burst as she hit the ground. So did the magic she’d gathered. Her concentration vanished as pain exploded through her body from the blow.
Iris tried to comprehend what happened as she gasped for air. Every inch of her exposed skin radiated heat like it was on fire. There wasn’t a single spot that didn’t ache or burn. She looked up as a shadow fell upon her face. Jaden stood over her. He stared down at her for several moments while Iris pleaded with her eyes for him to help her.
He released some kind of request. Air flooded her lungs. She gasped. Tried to exhale but couldn’t. She had no control over the amount of air she took in. Her chest hurt as her lungs expanded outward. Iris pummeled the ground with her fist. Jaden released the magic he used on her. She fell back on the ground and groaned.