Magic and Mayhem: A Collection of 21 Fantasy Novels

by Jasmine Walt

  “What happened?” she asked.

  I took my books and lunchbox from her and told her about Ryan.

  “He just appeared?” she asked.

  I nodded, wiping the last of the ranch dressing off my jeans. “I have no idea what he wants though. Ethan doesn’t think it’s that important, since Ryan hasn’t tried to kill me or anything. He said we will figure that out after we deal with the Pricolici.”

  We walked back into the hall. I could see Natalie, Jill, and Marie from where we were standing. A fit of laughter suddenly possessed me, and it took me a minute to regain myself.

  “Okay, Annie, now even I will say you are acting weird,” Laney said with one eyebrow raised.

  “I’m fine,” I told her. “It just dawned on me how stupid all this is.” I waved my hand at the lunchroom. “All this social ladder bullcrap, worrying what they think of me…it doesn’t really matter. Demons are after me, Laney. Demons. I don’t care what Marie, Natalie, or Jill thinks anymore.”

  Laney tipped her head. “That’s true.” She sighed. “I wish I could stop worrying what they think of me.”

  “You should. I’m done. Done worrying, done wasting my time. It’s not worth it.” I smiled. “Let’s go back in and finish lunch.”

  Laney smiled back and nodded. On the way to my table, Harrison’s friend Luke waved me over. He said he had been texting Harry all night and wanted to make sure my idiot brother hadn’t gotten arrested…or worse. I told him I took Harrison home, and the last I saw, he was still in bed sleeping. I said an awkward goodbye and turned back to my table to see Marie lean close to Jill. Their backs were to me.

  “She’s such a freak,” Marie said in a hushed voice. “She talks about ghosts all the time and seriously thinks their real.”

  Jill laughed. “How the hell did she land such a hot boyfriend? She has to be a slut to get a man like that.”

  I took a slow, steady breath. I didn’t care. I didn’t care. I didn’t care.

  “Hah, I know, right?” Marie said. “She is.”

  Anger boiled inside of me. Marie knew I was far from a slut. Hadn’t she been teasing me about finally losing my virginity?

  “I doubt they’ll last long,” Jill said smugly. “Then I’ll move in.”

  She laughed, and I lost it. “Ow!” she cried, bringing her hand to her face, covering her nose.

  My shoulders went back, and the scowl disappeared from my face. Uh-oh. Jill brought her hand away from her face. Blood dripped onto the table. She grabbed a napkin to sop up the nosebleed. Had I done that?

  Laney looked over, eyes widening at the blood. Then she looked at me, standing behind Marie and Jill. Her hand flew to her mouth, and she turned away. I hurried around the table and sat next to her.

  “Oh my God,” she started. “Was that you? Did you curse her?”

  “Keep your voice down!” I hissed. “And I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “I overheard her saying some nasty things. It pissed me off, then the next thing I know, she’s bleeding!”

  “Oh my God,” she repeated and slowly shook her head. “This is crazy.”

  I nodded, unable to take my eyes off Jill’s bloody nose. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, even someone as nasty as Jill. I closed my eyes and inhaled, trying to calm myself before I went full Carrie.

  Jill tipped her head back, and the bleeding ceased. Her friends gushed over her, making sure she was okay. I turned my head down, wanting this day to end. Now.

  But of course, the remaining hours dragged by. I hastily packed my bag and rushed to the parking lot, surprised to find Ethan waiting by my car. I smiled when I saw him, but he didn’t smile back.

  Oh crap.

  He took my bag and put it in the car. After a hello hug and kiss, he asked, “Where’s Laney?”

  “Probably still inside. She should be out soon. Why?”

  “Just wondering,” he said.

  “You’re lying.”

  He looked into my eyes. “I know.”

  “Ethan, what’s wrong?”

  “I’ll tell you when we find Laney.” He took my hand and started walking towards the school. I pulled my hand out of his.

  “Ethan Joseph Bailey, tell me what’s wrong!” I demanded.

  He sighed and stepped closer, slowly sliding his arms around me and pulling me into his chest. “Leslie got attacked.”

  28

  “What?” My heart stopped beating and plummeted to the floor. I didn’t breathe. I shook my head and pushed away from him so I could look into his eyes.

  “Last night, at the barn, she got attacked by Pricolici.”

  No, she didn’t. They wouldn’t attack her. Ethan was mistaking. “Is she okay?”

  “Yes. She’s in bad shape, but she’ll live.”

  My body shook as white-hot fear coursed through my veins. “Are you sure?”

  He lifted my chin so I was looking at him. “Yes. As soon as we heard about the attack, Julia went to the hospital. We need to go talk to Leslie and find out what happened.”

  I nodded, nerves trembling throughout my body. “I need to tell Laney.”

  I got into Ethan’s jeep and waited for Laney to emerge from the school with Josh. I ran over as soon as I saw them and told Laney what happened, blaming the attack on a wild dog instead of a demon for Josh’s sake.

  We drove straight to the hospital. My hands shook uncontrollably by the time we walked onto the medical floor. I hated hospitals. They were dripping with depressive energy that swirled around me and threatened to take over.

  Ethan linked his fingers with mine and led the way to Leslie’s room. I took a deep breath and knocked on her door before stepping inside.

  Leslie was in bed watching TV. She was hooked up to an IV and was covered in bandages. Her left arm was propped up and in a cast.

  “Hey guys,” she said weakly, smiling as best she could when she saw us; she had been clawed across the face. Three distinct red cuts ran from her right eye, across her lips and down to the left side of her chin. My knees felt weak, and tears welled in my eyes. This was my fault. The demons were after me, not her.

  “How are you holding up?” Laney asked, her voice shaky.

  “They gave me Morphine.” Leslie closed her eyes. “So I’m okay right now.”

  “A dog did all this?” Josh asked, disbelief in his voice.

  “Mmh,” Leslie mumbled. “It was huge.” She opened her eyes, and a flash of panic twitched on her face. “I don’t really remember it. Luckily, right?”

  “I’m so sorry, Leslie,” I said and bit my lip. “You don’t remember anything?” I felt bad pushing it.

  “Not really. I put Henry away, and it was just there. It knocked me over and sniffed me before…before it bit me. I must have passed out.”

  “I’ll take care of Henry for you,” I told her, knowing she would worry about her horse.

  “I don’t want him out,” she mumbled. “Too dangerous.”

  Laney looked at me, wide-eyed. I turned to Ethan. Was it too dangerous for our horses? We had thought the Pricolici would only attack me, and that turned out to be wrong. Was anyone—or anything—fair game now?

  A nurse came in and gave Leslie more pain medication. It made her tired; she could barely keep her eyes open. We said our goodbyes and headed to my house to pick up Hunter, then to the barn to do some investigating.

  “Why didn’t it kill her?” I asked Ethan as I buckled my seatbelt. I was glad it hadn’t, but it didn’t make sense. “Why stop?”

  Ethan shook his head. “It shouldn’t have attacked her in the first place. From what I know about Pricolici, they are only supposed to go after their target. One thing most demons have in common is they prefer to not draw attention to themselves. Killing someone who wasn’t even targeted is messy.” He ran his hand along the steering wheel. “Maybe the Pricolici got excited and went into attack mode. The master could have called it off at the last second.” He shook his head. “I still don’t know why it would have gone after Lesl
ie in the first place.”

  I cast my eyes down, guilt burning a hole inside of me. Then it hit me. “I do.” I hit my head against the seat. “Ugh, how can I be so stupid?”

  “What?”

  “I gave Leslie my jacket.”

  Ethan flicked his eyes to me and nodded. “She did say it sniffed her.”

  I put my head in my hands. “She could have been killed because of me.”

  “But she wasn’t,” Ethan said gently.

  “No, she was just severely mauled.” I exhaled, fighting back tears. “I’m ready to find them and kill them. All of them.”

  Everyone was on edge at the barn. All of the horses were in their stalls, their owners too afraid to let them out into the pasture. Penny, the owner of the barn, suggested no one come alone until the wild dog was caught. Animal control and the local police had started the hunt.

  I hoped they wouldn’t get hurt.

  Laney and I brushed our horses and Henry. Poor Laney; the girl was terrified. If it weren’t for Ethan, Hunter, and me being here, she wouldn’t have come to the barn at all.

  We were getting ready to leave when I felt a shift in the energy. I hurried out of Mystery’s stall and closed the door.

  Anora!

  I whirled around in direction of the voice. No one was behind me. I turned quickly back to face my friends, but dizziness crashed down on me like a ton of bricks, and I struggled to remain standing. The dizziness got worse, to the point where I felt like I was being sucked down into a pool of icy black water. I couldn’t breathe.

  The next thing I knew Ethan was holding me upright. “Anora,” he whispered. Concern muddled his beautiful brown eyes.

  “What happened?” I tried to get out of his arms but staggered. He caught me again. Everything around me was fuzzy, and I leaned against Ethan.

  “Are you okay?” I heard Ethan ask, but his voice echoed like he was speaking underwater. A figure moved at the end of the aisle. I strained my eyes to make out who it was. A familiar mop of messy blonde hair bobbed up and down.

  “Ryan,” I breathed and pointed in his direction. Hunter licked my face and then trotted off towards the ghost. He sniffed the air right before him, let out a high-pitched cry, and lay down at the ghost’s feet. Laney looked from the dog to me, trying to see what we could see.

  “Anora, are you okay?” Ethan asked again, sounding stressed.

  “Yes.” I snapped back to reality. Hunter ran over and wagged his tail feverishly. Ryan was gone.

  “Tell me what happened,” Ethan instructed.

  “I heard someone say my name. I’m guessing it was Ryan. And then I felt like I was being sucked backwards again. But that’s all I remember. When I opened my eyes, he was standing there.” I pointed to the spot again. “Now he’s gone.”

  Ethan ran his hand through his hair as he thought.

  “Is he still there?” Laney asked, her eyes moving all over the aisle.

  “Not anymore,” I told her. She turned back to face me.

  “What does he look like? I mean, is he transparent and white?”

  “Not at all. He looks normal. If I didn’t know he was a ghost, I probably would think he is real. Like Bob, remember? I told you about him.”

  “Yeah. Do they always look like that?”

  I shook my head. “Not all are strong enough to appear like that; most of the time they appear as shadows or mist. It takes a lot of energy for them to form human-like figures.”

  “Where do they get the energy?”

  “From batteries, power lines, or other things like that. And in the case of Ryan, from me,” I said.

  “So that’s why you passed out?”

  “I think so.”

  Ethan turned back around and took my hand. “Feeling any better now?”

  “Yeah, except for the fact that I have supernatural narcolepsy, I’m back to normal.”

  “I’m gonna take you back to my house to get something that will help keep Ryan at bay,” he told me.

  “Okay, good,” I said, feeling a little guilty for some reason. Ryan wasn’t hurting me. Why send him away?

  “Let’s go.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait until everyone is gone?”

  Ethan shrugged. “No one is wearing your clothes, are they?” I shook my head. “Then as far as I’m concerned, they’re safe.”

  Laney, Ethan, and I walked outside. Hunter trotted ahead, making sure it was safe. I hugged Laney goodbye, promised her I’d call later that night, and got into Ethan’s Jeep.

  “We won’t stay long,” Ethan told me when we pulled into his driveway, knowing I was eager to go home and sleep. I unbuckled Hunter and followed Ethan into the house. Julia was washing dishes while Sam sat at the table typing on her laptop.

  “Hey guys,” I said.

  “Hey, Anora.” Julia looked from the soapy water. “I’m so sorry about your friend.”

  “Thanks. I think she’s gonna recover. Physically, at least.” I tried not to think about it; I didn’t want to cry.

  “Go ahead and sit.” Ethan motioned to the table. “I’ll go get what we need.” He kissed me and went into the study, a room that was kept locked since it was full of weapons.

  I sat down opposite Sam. “How are you?” I asked her, figuring I’d try my hand at a polite conversation. She shrugged one shoulder. Not the response I’d hoped for. I busied myself gushing over Hunter until Ethan came back into the kitchen.

  I stood to leave when Sam said, “So, Anora, did you have fun last night?”

  Last night…it seemed so long ago. What happened last night? Oh, Harrison’s whole drunk ordeal. But that couldn’t be what she meant. Oh…I mentally cringed. She probably heard Ethan and me in his bedroom. But why would she bring that up? “Uh, sure,” I said, blushing.

  “Yeah, it looked like it.”

  She might have heard us, but I knew she didn’t see us. I looked at Ethan for help. He shrugged and mouthed, “I don’t know.”

  “It did?” I asked her.

  “Yeah. I guess you would have fun when you’re cheating on your boyfriend.” She smiled smugly.

  “I’m not cheating on Ethan.” I was too confused to be angry.

  “Really? I saw you with that good-looking blonde last night. And you two looked pretty close.”

  Oh. My. God. Was she for freaking real?

  “Oh, yeah, we are really close,” I said slowly. “I’m sorry, Ethan, I should have told you. That good-looking blonde and I are so close, one time we spent nine whole months cuddled close together.”

  I stood and shook my head. “That blonde is my twin brother, Harrison.” I grabbed Ethan’s hand. He was scowling at Sam, too angry to speak. “See you later, Julia,” I said as I stomped to the front door.

  “I’m sorry,” Ethan said as soon as we were outside.

  “Why are you sorry? It’s not your fault.”

  He set the bag he was carrying down and hugged me. “I know, but today has been a bad day for you, and I…I don’t like that.”

  “Whatever, it’s fine. I just want to go home.” I got into the Jeep. I sighed, making a mental note to check the Book for an anti-drama spell. I could really use one right now.

  We arrived home in time for dinner. After filling up on homemade chicken pot-pie, Ethan and I went upstairs to lie down. He rubbed my back like he promised. I was close to falling asleep when Laney called. I didn’t move to pick up the phone, so Ethan answered.

  “Hey, Laney. Yeah, everything’s okay here. She’s sleeping. I’ll tell her to call you later.” He put the phone down and got under the covers with me, wrapping his arms tightly around me. I lazily hooked one arm around him and kissed him lightly on the lips.

  I was almost asleep again when the bedroom door flew opened, revealing Mom. She looked at me sternly; she didn’t think it was appropriate to be in bed with a boy. And I was under the covers with him, even worse. Oh, and my door was closed. That was three strikes right there.

  “Hey, Mom,” I said casually,
hoping to blow off my bad behavior.

  “Out,” she said. I pulled back the covers and sat up. Ethan did too, and he quickly swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Don’t close your door when your boyfriend is here, Anora. You know better than that.”

  “Romeo was out.”

  “Put him away next time.”

  “Fine.”

  Mom sat down on the foot of the bed and smiled at Ethan. “Hello, Ethan. How was everything at the barn?”

  Good, she was going to go easy on me tonight. I told her how Penny didn’t want anyone there alone. Mom didn’t want me there at all. Ethan said he’d go with me and told my mom that he and his dad had been hunters—regular game hunters—for years. Mom made a few backhanded comments about guns, but in the end, she agreed that having Ethan and a shotgun with me at the barn was a good idea until that wild dog was caught.

  She admired the yellow lilies Ethan got me, chatted with us for a bit more, and threw in, “Good night, Ethan,” three times. We could take the hint that she thought it was time for him to go.

  As soon as Mom left, Ethan retrieved the bag he brought and pulled out a handful of stringy dried plants.

  “Devil’s Shoestring,” he told me and put the roots down on my dresser. “It’ll help keep Ryan and even the Pricolici away. Actually, next time we go to the barn, we can put some around the place.”

  I picked up a piece of Devil’s Shoestring, bending the dried root between my fingers. “So I don’t have to do anything to it?”

  “Well, burning it will definitely extend its keep-away powers, especially when dealing with spirits. Just make sure to open your windows. It stinks when it’s burned.”

  I remembered reading about it in the Book. “This is a pretty powerful protection root, isn’t it?”

  Ethan nodded. “It’s not foolproof, though. I mean, holding a handful of Devil’s Shoestring out in front of you isn’t going to stop something bad from attacking.”