Magic and Mayhem: A Collection of 21 Fantasy Novels

by Jasmine Walt

  After eating a banana and half a package of Oreos, I stepped on the deck to bring Hunter in. Panic flashed through me when I didn’t see him right away. I hurried through the cold, stiff grass and found him behind the shed.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him, sticking my hand under his collar.

  He was staring at the trees behind our fence. I let go of his collar and straightened up.

  “Ryan?” I asked. “Is that you?”

  When the ghost didn’t appear, I turned and patted my leg. “Come on Hunter, let’s go in.” We got halfway to the house when Hunter stopped. He growled and took off to the back of the yard.

  Dagger in hand, I spun around. Lurking in the shadows was a hooded figure. Realizing what real danger I was in, Hunter ran back and stood in front of me, making it impossible for anything to get to me without first having to go through him. The bird-demon silently slid closer and closer. Hunter’s growls turned into ferocious barks. Then he lunged for it, his strong jaws locking around the creature’s arm. It hissed, yanking its arm back. But Hunter didn’t let go.

  He dragged it forward, like he was bringing it to me. The bird-demon stumbled along, unable to break free from Hunter’s bite. Adrenaline surged through me. I raised my arm and rushed to the demon.

  “Now!” I said to Hunter. He let go, moving out of the way in time for me to push the dagger into the demon’s chest. Smoke poured out of the bird-demon’s mouth and eyes. It let out a final high-pitched shriek and burst into flames. Thinking it was safe to go back in, I turned around but was face to face with someone else.

  25

  “Harry!” I said to my twin. He was standing on the steps of the deck. His mouth was wide open, and the gym bag he had been holding was on the ground. Ethan, with his gun drawn, and Laney stood on the deck. Laney looked almost as stunned as Harrison.

  “W-what?” Harrison stammered.

  “I think I have some explaining to do,” I said and walked to the deck stairs. I picked up Harrison’s bag and waved him inside. Ethan moved to the edge of the deck and said he’d be right back. I nodded and opened the sliding glass door and went back inside.

  Harrison sat on the edge of a barstool in the kitchen. Laney sat next to him, folding her arms on the island counter. She shivered, but I didn’t think it was from the cold. Confusion muddled Harrison’s blue eyes. He looked like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words to voice his thoughts.

  At least I didn’t have to convince him that demons were real. He had seen one first hand. I sat on the floor, stroking Hunter while I repeated to Harrison what I had told Laney. I ended my spiel and waited. Harrison was staring unblinking at the floor. Finally he looked up at me.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Weren’t you listening?” I asked, a little frustrated.

  “Yeah, but…what?”

  “Harry, listen. You know I’m a witch, remember?” He nodded. “Remember how I told you that ghosts like people with magical powers?” Another nod. “Well, demons like us even more. Except by ‘like,’ I mean hate and want to kill.”

  “What were you saying about the dagger?”

  “It was made from magic. It’s the Daryl Dixon of magical weapons; it can kill anything.” I decided simple was best right now. Three gunshots rang in the distance, making all of us jump and Hunter bark.

  “Ethan,” I whispered and rushed out of the house and ran to the edge of the yard, pacing back and forth until something moved through the trees. I smiled and breathed a breath of relief. I could sense Ethan’s presence before I could see him.

  “Annie?” he called. Moonlight weakly reflected off the metal of his gun.

  “Yeah,” I answered.

  “Just making sure.”

  He easily climbed the fence and landed next to me. I hugged him, feeling something warm and wet on his arm. I pulled my hand away to find it covered in blood.

  “You popped your stitches open,” I stated, though I was more than sure he was aware.

  “Guess so,” he said as if he didn’t care, but the way he was holding his arm let me know that the pain must have been more than what he was letting on.

  I slipped my hand in his, and we went into the house. Once the doors were locked behind us, I asked, “What happened out there?”

  “Pricolici.” Ethan set the gun down on the kitchen counter.

  The word made my heart skip a beat in fear. Laney and Harrison had moved closer together. Laney turned away quickly when she saw the blood oozing through Ethan’s sleeve.

  “Shit!” Harrison said. “What happened?”

  Ethan looked at me to take the lead as to what to say.

  “Demon,” I said as gently as possible. “This happened earlier. It actually was one of those creeper bird-slash-human things that you saw. We got attacked this afternoon. And someone,” I pushed up Ethan’s sleeve, “doesn’t know how to take it easy.” I unwrapped the bandage. “Can I please take you to the hospital? You really need real stitches.” Again, I knew what he would say.

  “No. There might be more out there, and I’m not leaving you. And it’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

  Ethan was so freaking stubborn. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “At least come back upstairs so I can re-bandage this.”

  “I can do that,” he said with a half smile.

  We all went up to my room so I could once again take care of the gash on Ethan’s arm. “Did you kill it?” I asked as I rewrapped gauze around his bicep.

  “Shot it three times in the head,” Ethan said steadily, as if he was commenting about the weather.

  “What?” Harrison and Laney exclaimed at the same time.

  Ethan and I exchanged glances. “Pricolici,” Ethan explained. “They are another type of demon—”

  “You mean there is more than one type?” Harrison interrupted.

  “Yes,” Ethan said, leaving it at that.

  “Anyway, Pricolici look like wolves,” I continued the explanation. “But of course, they’re not. They’re much, much more violent and, well, evil.”

  Silence fell over the room. I gently pulled the blood-soaked sleeve back down Ethan’s arm. He was going to have to change before Mom and Dad got home, I realized.

  “Are we in danger?” Harrison asked, looking genuinely concerned.

  “You two aren’t,” Ethan said, looking from Harrison to Laney. “It’s Annie they want.”

  “Because she has power,” Laney said weakly.

  “Right.” Ethan got up and looked out the window. “And they know she can use that power to kill them.” Seeing nothing, he turned back towards us. “Plus, demons hate feeling inferior. With power comes control, and they don’t like being told what to do. Annie’s a threat, and they want to eliminate her.”

  The headlights of Dad’s Lexus illuminated the driveway. On high alert, I jumped up and grabbed the dagger. “Change out of that blood-stained shirt,” I said to Ethan. “Hunter and I are going on demon patrol until Dad gets in the house. Act natural,” I told Laney and my brother.

  I pulled on my soft blue bathrobe as I ran down the stairs and tied it around my waist, completely concealing the dagger that hung from my belt. I quietly slipped out onto the deck and waited until Dad was in the safety of the kitchen to come back in.

  “Hi, Daddy,” I said and locked the sliding door.

  “Hey, kiddo. Do you have friends over?”

  “Yep. Ethan and Laney. We’re playing video games upstairs. Harry too.” I smiled sweetly.

  “Sounds fun. Be down in forty-five minutes for dinner.” Dad set his briefcase on the counter. “Maybe send Ethan down now. You’ve been spending a lot of time with him, and I’d like to get to know him better.”

  “Dad, no! Please don’t embarrass me like that!” I begged.

  Dad raised an eyebrow. “How is your father talking to your boyfriend embarrassing?”

  I sighed. “It just is. You can talk to him during dinner, okay?”

  Dad laughed. “Deal. But
I get to ask him anything.”

  “Ugh,” I huffed and shook my head.

  Right as I was about to walk up the stairs, Mom came home. I waited until she was in the garage before I dashed up the stairs. I went into my room, closing the door behind me. “Dinner in about forty minutes,” I told my friends and sat on my bed next to Ethan.

  “So what do we do now?” Laney asked quietly.

  “You guys don’t have to do anything.” I ran my hands over my face. Today had been the longest Monday in the history of my life. I wanted to go to bed and get today over with. “I have to find out what those bird-demons are and try to figure out what they want from me, other than my untimely demise of course.”

  “And figure out who’s sending the Pricolici and kill them,” Ethan added.

  I was feeling very overwhelmed, but for Laney and Harrison’s sake, I acted like it was no big deal. Ethan, who was to my left, put his arm around my waist and pulled me to him. I rested my head on his shoulder.

  “How are you going to do that?” Harrison asked.

  “Research.” I made a face. “Boring research and a lot of looking through boring books.” I looked at Ethan. “But I don’t know how to trace back to who’s sending the Pricolici.”

  “We have to track them,” he replied. “They come from a source. Simply put, they’re being supplied. Then we go from there.”

  “You sound like you’ve done this before,” Harrison said.

  “I have with other demons. But not Pricolici.”

  There was a knock at the door that caused us all to jump. Mom came in without waiting for me to answer it.

  “Anora, you know better than to close your door when your boyfriend is over,” she scolded before saying hello.

  “Mom, Laney and Harry are in here,” I said with a shake of my head.

  Mom stepped into the room. “Exactly. Who knows what’s going on?”

  I put my head in my hands. “Ugh, Mom!”

  Ethan laughed and removed his hand from my waist. Harrison looked at Laney with disgust. They’d known each other for years. She was like a sister to him.

  Having successfully embarrassed me, Mom smiled and came in the room to chat until dinner was ready.

  After dinner, Harrison, Ethan, and my dad watched football. The Bears were playing that night, and Harry was having fun teasing Ethan about their poor defense. Laney and I went back up to my room. I closed the door and let Romeo back out of his cage.

  “Can I look at your spell books?” Laney asked nervously.

  “Of course!” I said, excited she wanted to learn more about magic. We spent the next hour going through the books. Laney asked a lot of questions, and I gladly answered as best as I could. I still had a lot of learning to do myself.

  “Wow.” Laney closed the Book of Shadows. “This is all so, so…” she searched for a word. “…much. This is amazing.” She looked over at the psychic self-defense book I was reading. “Do you think you’re safe for tonight?”

  I pushed the book aside. “I don’t know. I’ve been wondering that too. Ethan’s staying, so at least he’ll be able to help defend me, if need be.”

  “That’s so romantic,” she swooned.

  I raised an eyebrow. “No, it’s not. Being kissed under a star-studded sky is romantic. Being on demon guard is… not romantic at all. Plus, I’ll be worried about getting caught the whole time.” Well…unless I decided to do the Agreeance Spell again. I wondered if bewitching someone so many times could affect them permanently. I wasn’t willing to risk it on my parents.

  “Yes it is romantic! He’s like your knight in shining armor.”

  “And I’m the defenseless damsel in distress?”

  “Of course not, and I say that with certainty after tonight. But it’s romantic in the way that he wants to protect you. Every girl wants that.”

  I smiled and swooned a bit myself. “It is nice.”

  And it was, wasn’t it? But when that romance came with such a risk to both of us…not so much.

  “Goodnight, Ethan,” Dad said and walked Ethan to the front door. “Tell your father I said hello.”

  Ethan nodded. “I will, sir.” He shook Dad’s hand. “Have a goodnight.”

  I ignored the stern look Dad gave me and stepped out on the porch to say goodnight to Ethan. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

  “Text me when your parents are in bed,” he said, running his hands over my arms. The temperature had dropped significantly since the sun had set. “And deactivate the alarm.”

  I nodded. “I can let you in,” I offered.

  Ethan shrugged. “No need. You don’t have to unlock the door either. You should probably leave it locked, actually.”

  I shivered and raised an eyebrow. “You want to break it?”

  “I will do no breaking. Trust me, I’ve picked up a lot of interesting skills from being in the Order.”

  I pulled Ethan to me. “For some reason, that turns me on.”

  “Well in that case,” he kissed me. “Put a sleeping spell on your parents, so I can come over sooner.”

  I smiled deviously. “I like that idea.”

  We kissed again before Ethan broke away. “You’re shivering, Annie. Go inside before your dad comes out and gets you.”

  With a resentful sigh, I went back in the house. Dad was leaning against the stairs, waiting for me. Crap. He couldn’t have heard our conversation, could he? I locked the front door, taking my time in hopes Dad would leave before he said anything.

  “Ethan seems like a really nice guy,” he said. I smiled and turned around. “He’s very respectful. I don’t see that too often these days.”

  “He’s great, isn’t he?” I smiled even wider.

  “Don’t get too ahead of yourself,” Dad said gently. “You haven’t known him for that long.”

  No, I hadn’t. But I knew Ethan very well. And he knew me, dark secrets and all. “I’m glad you like him. What exactly did you talk about during that game?”

  Dad winked. “I can’t tell you that. I’ll break the man code.”

  I shook my head and laughed. “I’m going to bed. Night, Daddy.” I went up to my room, half-assed my homework, cleaned Romeo’s cage, and took a shower. I put on a tank top and pink pajama pants and plopped onto my bed.

  I fell asleep watching an episode of Buffy and woke up as the end credits rolled across the screen. I sat up, a bit panicked, and grabbed my phone. With a heavy sigh, I pushed back the covers and went to the top of the stairs.

  Everything was silent. I snuck down and turned the alarm off, let Hunter out, and texted Ethan. Hunter and I were back in my room when he slipped through the door.

  “You are scary sneaky,” I mumbled, taking my head off the pillow.

  “Tired?” Ethan asked.

  I nodded and threw the covers back for him to crawl under. Dressed in gray sweatpants and a t-shirt, Ethan kicked off his shoes and got in bed with me. He wrapped me in his embrace and kissed my forehead.

  “How’s the arm?” I asked after a few minutes of lying contently in Ethan’s embrace.

  “Ah, fine.”

  “Liar.” I wrinkled my nose at him and got out of bed.

  “What are you doing?” he asked sleepily.

  “Changing this.” I unwrapped the bandage on his arm. “And helping it heal.”

  “Mmh,” he mumbled and closed his eyes. He lay back down but kept his arm elevated for me. After I put a clean piece of gauze over the wound, which looked as gross as before. I carefully held a quartz crystal over the cut and wrapped another bandage around that, keeping the quartz in place over the gash. Once I was satisfied that the crystal was going to stay in place, I crawled under the covers making sure to be on Ethan’s right side to avoid touching his hurt arm. I put my head back on his chest, and he rewrapped his arms around me.

  “Did I tell you I love you?” he mumbled.

  “Tell me again.”

  “I love you, Anora.”

  26

&
nbsp; “Did anything else happen last night?” Laney asked as soon as she saw me at school the next day.

  “Nothing demonic.”

  “How was sleeping next to Ethan all night?”

  “Really nice.” I bit my lip to try to keep from smiling. “I felt safe wrapped in his arms.” And the smile I was holding back broke out across my face.

  She squealed and grabbed my arm. “I told you it was romantic!”

  “What’s romantic?” We turned to see Marie, who had arrived at her locker.

  “Ethan stayed the night with Annie last night!” Laney exclaimed.

  “Oh!” Marie said, raising her eyebrows. “And did you actually sleep with him?”

  “Yes,” I said, feeling like I was under the microscope again. She was one of my best friends. Why was she so judgmental?

  “Well, it’s about time!” Marie’s lips were curved into a smile, but her eyes didn’t convey her happiness for me. Was she jealous?

  “It was so hard getting up and leaving while Ethan was still asleep,” I groaned.

  “He was at your house?” Marie was surprised. “How did you manage that with your parents?”

  “Oh, they didn’t know he was there, of course.”

  “They didn’t see his car?”

  “He didn’t drive over. They assumed he left.”

  “Nice. So how was your weekend getaway?” She hung her coat up in her locker. Her shirt was tighter than normal, and she had on a short skirt, even though it was freezing out, and tall black boots. She turned back towards me. Her eyeliner was different too; it was much thicker today. When did she start dressing like that? Have I seriously been that unaware of all the non-paranormalness around me?

  “It was relaxing,” I told her, which was sort of true. The first bell rang, so I gathered up my stuff and headed down the hall to mythology.

  “What did I miss yesterday?” I asked Josh as I took my seat. He flipped back a page in his notebook.