Mind Games

by Christine Amsden

  I was about to phone my parents anyway, if for no other reason than to start a phone tree, when I spotted a familiar figure racing out of the drug store across the street. For the first time in a long while, Evan Blackwood’s familiar long black hair, hard, lean body, and even his Star Wars t-shirt were a welcome sight.

  He didn’t waste a minute getting into the middle of the crowd, positioning himself so he could see both the blown-open cafeteria and the crumpled playground. In fact, for a few seconds, I would have sworn he’d flown the last few yards, leaping over the heads of some wild-eyed students.

  Then he closed his eyes and concentrated. A paralysis began to settle over the students, slowly at first, then catching them up rapidly until no one within Evan’s field of vision could move a muscle.

  Evan’s telekinetic ability is frankly amazing, but he has admitted to me that he’s better at brute strength than accuracy. I could see the strain holding almost fifty people in place without hurting any of them was causing him. When a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, I gave the sheriff a shove. “Go!”

  No one had to be told twice. The remaining deputies arrived, one on top of the other, until the entire sheriff’s department was there. But they weren’t the only ones. Parents began to arrive, many of them freaking out when they spotted their children as still as statues on the playground or in the rubble of the broken cafeteria. We ended up spending more time trying to calm the parents than we did disbanding the riot which, once frozen in place, lost steam quickly.

  As more and more parents arrived, I sensed a greater danger forming and sought out the sheriff to tell him about it. “The parents may start rioting, too.”

  Sheriff Adams searched the newly forming crowd, so far made up largely of parents who lived or worked in town, which meant few practitioners. That didn’t stop some of the parents, especially those who had attempted to blockade the sheriff’s department, from shooting dirty looks at anyone they so much as suspected of evil doing.

  Bethany Atkins who, despite her lack of any magical ability, had been the second name on their witch hunt list, bore the brunt of their outrage when she emerged relatively unscathed from the battle below. They shouted foul names and accusations at her, but she wasted no time in telling the sheriff precisely how it had all started, providing the names of all the girls who had attacked my sister, setting her off.

  Mark Roberts, who had by then joined the group of parents, took the lead in Bethany’s persecution. “How dare you accuse our children of causing this destruction when by your own admission the evil within the witch destroyed the school?”

  I positioned myself between Bethany and the pastor, sensing that Bethany had just pushed things too far. If someone had to take the brunt of their anger, I’d rather it be me, since neither Bethany nor Elena could truly defend themselves.

  Pastor Roberts simply glared at me, and in his eyes I saw the promise of retribution.

  “We need to get these children unfrozen,” the sheriff said. “The situation has been defused and the faster we can get these kids home with their parents, the less chance for violence.”

  “I’ll take care of it.” I welcomed any plan to get these angry parents away from the school.

  Evan still stood absolutely still when I reached him, several beads of sweat trickling down his face as he continued his intense effort of concentration.

  “You can let go now,” I told him.

  Relief flooded his face and he let go, trusting in my decision that his effort was no longer needed. The children, set free, did not seek more violence. Instead, they sought the security of their parents.

  In the flood of running children, I sought out the two that mattered most to me, Elena and Adam. I found them both together, along with two children I didn’t recognize, standing tall near a large rock just outside the ruined cafeteria. They had both clearly been hit in the face repeatedly, especially Elena, whose nose appeared broken and bled freely.

  I ran to them, but Adam waved me to the girl. “Help Jenna!”

  Jenna was the only one of the four sitting down. She used the rock for support, even seated. Her eyes appeared bloodshot and out of focus.

  “She was unconscious,” the boy, who I later discovered was Barry Eagle, explained.

  I radioed for help, requesting an ambulance to get the girl to the hospital. Her parents would probably remove her from the emergency room, but for now, the mundane hospital was the safest place I knew for someone with a head injury.

  “Shouldn’t we wait for her parents?” Adam asked anxiously.

  I didn’t know, but having done everything I could for this group, I started inside to find out if anyone in the cafeteria needed help. Most of the group had gone, but a handful remained, most of them nursing minor injuries.

  Barry followed me inside. “Aren’t you Cassie Scot?”

  I caught sight of a third grader cowering behind an overturned table. I rushed over, nodding my assent to Barry as I moved.

  “I’m Barry Eagle,” he told me. “Did you really take on a full-fledged sorcerer in July and win?”

  I paused. “Um, it’s not as cool as it sounds.”

  Then I ducked under the table and found a shell-shocked Miranda Clark, clearly struggling to reign in a burst of magic before it took down the rest of the cafeteria.

  “Sh.” I rubbed her back in soothing circles. “Close your eyes. Find your quiet place.”

  When she didn’t immediately move to close her eyes, I placed one hand over them until I felt them flutter shut.

  “Breathe in. Breathe out. Through your nose. That’s it. You’re safe in your quiet place. Let it all go. Just let it all go.”

  “You’re pretty good,” Barry said.

  It would be nice if I’d felt half as confident as I sounded, but I was winging it, too aware of the danger not to do anything. “Who else is in here? Who needs help?”

  Barry glanced around, but most of the students were getting to their feet and making their way, on shaky limbs, out of the building. He ran off behind the lunch counter, dragging forward a small first grader. Several aproned ladies followed in their wake.

  “She’s fine,” Barry called.

  Miranda’s breathing returned to normal. “I’m okay.”

  Dropping my hand, I searched her body for any sign of physical injury.

  “I’m okay,” she repeated.

  Nodding, I led her out of the cafeteria to the playground, where the deputies were rounding up all the students who hadn’t been rushed to the hospital or claimed by their parents. I delivered Miranda into the capable hands of Jane, who was handling all the magical children alongside Evan, who seemed to be keeping a careful eye on the milling crowd in case things got ugly again.

  Time passed quickly after that, in a blur of duty that largely turned out to be monotonous. A team of six deputies combed every square inch of the school, looking for stragglers. I found several in a bathroom, too afraid to look outside to see if the explosions had stopped. There were a few more in the administrative office and one in the nurse’s office – a boy sick with fever who had been waiting for his parents to take him home. The nurse had barricaded the door as she kept vigil over her lone charge.

  By the time we finished our careful survey of the school, most of the parents had come to collect their children, including those who had to travel from the lake district. Several fights nearly broke out when the practitioners arrived, but a combination of trained magic and the strong police force kept them from getting out of control.

  It didn’t stop the hateful words, however. As I made my report to Sheriff Adams, Pastor Roberts’s commanding voice could be heard above the crowd.

  “Are we going to stand here and take this? It’s a miracle nobody was killed, but let’s not make the mistake of ignoring God’s warning. It’s time we rid our community of these monstrous threats. Look at the school!”

  “It’s time we rid our community of something.” I’m not sure who first said it, but
the whispered muttering was taken up by a number of sorcerers.

  That’s when I realized how the crowd had faced off. Pastor Roberts and his crew stood nearer to the front doors, pleading with every parent who came by to snatch away their children, whether they had been directly involved or not. The practitioners stood nearer the playground.

  Rushing through the crowd, I found my parents. Actually, I found my entire family, from Nicolas down to Christina. Juliana must have come over from the high school and Isaac from the middle school. Elena and Adam looked remarkably well, meaning that Juliana had given them a dose of healing, but that didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was that Jenna Lee looked remarkably fit as well.

  “Juliana,” I whispered.

  She noticed the direction of my gaze and harrumphed. “Nobody saw who did it in this crowd, not even Jenna. Besides, she had this horrible clot in her brain…”

  I winced, wondering if any of the other injuries might prove to be more serious later on. “Look, we’ve got to start getting everyone home.”

  Mom turned to me, as if noticing me for the first time. Anger burned in her eyes and she was having trouble controlling the fire she channeled for her unborn child. “They attacked Elena.”

  “Okay, and we’ll have to decide what to do about that, but for right now, don’t you think we ought to get the children out of danger?”

  I must have chosen the right words, because Mom suddenly saw the milling children, her own and others’. “Let’s go!”

  Dad hesitated. “You go on, I’ll catch up.”

  “Dad, please, not here. Cool down and think about things first.”

  Mom led the children away, but Elena paused and took my hand, looking up into my eyes with matching blue eyes that, at the moment, appeared utterly lost. “They won’t speak to me.”

  “Who?” I asked, confused.

  “The others.” Her hand slipped away from mine and she followed in Mom’s wake. It wasn’t until the group reached her Dodge Sprinter that I realized what Elena must have meant – that the dead people weren’t speaking to her.

  I was about to wind my way through the crowd in an attempt to reason with others when James Blair drove up, Matthew riding in the passenger seat. The mayor and the senator stepped out, giving both halves of the crowd brilliant smiles. Then they separated, each to deal with a different half. James went off to talk to the pastor and his crew, while Matthew came to calm the restless practitioners. He spared a quick smile for me as he got to work, compelling people with every smile and handshake that maybe it was time to take their children home. It’s been a shocking day for everyone and we all need to recuperate.

  Slowly, it worked. I think everyone was a little too edgy to really want a confrontation right there, outside a damaged elementary school.

  I stood in the middle of it all, half expecting curses to start flying anyway, but gradually, the crowd thinned.

  The sheriff came up behind me. “There you are. I just want to say I’m done pandering to Pastor Roberts. You have better things to do than question every sorcerer in town. I need reports from the students and teachers about what happened here today. I need you to handle the practitioners’ kids. I’ll have Wesley handle the others. I’m putting another pair on the teachers. I want this taken care of quickly and efficiently and I expect a report at the end of the day.”

  “Yes sir,” I said. Then I looked around. “Where is Wesley?”

  Sheriff Adams frowned. “I don’t know. He hasn’t checked in all…”

  He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before Wesley strolled up to us, his hands tucked casually into his pockets. His slightly pale face belied the casual posture, though. It seemed odd, him suddenly showing up like that when he’d disappeared as soon as we’d arrived. As Sheriff Adams repeated his instructions to Wesley, I took a minute to really study my partner. Something nagged at the back of my mind, but it wasn’t until he looked my way and I stared into those crystalline blue eyes that suspicion dawned.

  Quickly, facts began to pull together in my mind: He’d disappeared the moment we’d arrived. Evan had arrived out of nowhere minutes later, somehow, coincidentally, appearing from a drug store across the street. On Saturday, I’d almost felt the wards keeping me out of Evan’s house and somehow… somehow, I’d gotten in. In the middle of a mob, a gunman lost his gun. None of the practitioners we’d visited had cursed us, even the nasty ones. The Chases had even threatened us, but nothing had come of it.

  I told you to stop trying to protect me.

  And I told you I wouldn’t do that.

  The sheriff wandered away and the man I’d known as Wesley turned to me, his face set in a deep frown. “What?”

  “Evan.”

  “What about him?” I had to give him credit, he didn’t even blink. He’d played the whole thing very convincingly, down to his innocent questions about magic. But there were a few too many coincidences here. And now that I saw them, I saw something else. Wesley might not look anything like Evan, but he walked like Evan. He stood like Evan. He grew angry and tried to protect me, just like Evan.

  “Don’t play games with me,” I said. “I’m no Lois Lane.”

  This time, he paused a fraction of a second before answering. “And I’m not Clark Kent.”

  “I’ll tell the sheriff.” I moved to head after the sheriff, but he reached out an arm to stop me.

  “He already knows.”

  I stopped and stared at the arm still clutching mine. “Didn’t you think I’d figure it out?”

  “Yeah, but I hoped it would take longer. I think if I hadn’t had to pull a disappearing act this afternoon while my alter ego took over, it would have.” He paused. “The sheriff said it wouldn’t even take a week. I think you disappointed him.”

  “He wouldn’t be the first.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Evan, please, I need you to stop protecting me. I need you to let me go.”

  “No.”

  Just that. No. Given in the same unwavering tone he’d used when I’d asked for my magic back. The single word hung between us, an immovable barrier. God help me, but at that moment, I found myself thinking about my father’s challenge to Alexander, that he get my magic back from Evan. He wouldn’t want to protect me then. He might not even be able to.

  “You’re the reason I need protection in the first place,” I said.

  He didn’t argue.

  “I won’t work with you. I’ll tell the sheriff to get me a new partner.”

  “He won’t do it. I’m working for him for free with the single stipulation that I’m your partner.”

  I balled my hands into fists. “Let me put this another way then. Either you quit or I do.”

  His mouth fell open. “You don’t mean it. You love this job.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  We squared off against one another, each sizing the other up. I had no idea what he would do. Would he call my bluff? Only, it couldn’t be a bluff. I had to carry through with my threat to quit, though it would kill me to do it. He knew how much this job meant to me, and once upon a time, I would have said that mattered, but now… I just didn’t think I knew him anymore.

  “I’ll quit,” Evan said. “But not today. The sheriff’s in over his head. Let me stay until the end of the week. I’ll have him assign you a new partner.”

  “Fine.”

  24

  IT WASN’T FINE. I SHOOK WITH anger as I left the scene in search of the children who had been there, who had been a part of it. How could I not have seen it before? How many times had he told me he would protect me, no matter what? He didn’t take no for an answer.

  I wasn’t the only one shaken. As I sought out each child, I found them and their families in a state of advanced shock. Cormack McClellan, his nephew’s guardian after his brother’s death, didn’t have anything crude or intimidating to say to me when I spoke to Nathan. Jasmine Hewitt didn’t try to curse me when I visited her great-nephew. O
r perhaps the muteness curse hadn’t worn off. She didn’t speak at all.

  The children were surprisingly open, painting a picture of the day’s events that gradually filled in with each new contact. The picture was dark, and boded ill for the whole town.

  I went to my parents’ house last, hoping to end the day on a moderately friendly note and possibly to find some dinner, even if everyone else would have eaten long ago.

  “Sit. Eat.” Mom dished up a serving of roasted vegetables, garlic quinoa, and homemade bread, then ruined the effect of the health food by passing around “individual” servings of Ben and Jerry’s for dessert.

  I spoke to Adam first, taking him up to the library with our containers of ice cream. His version of events pretty much matched what Barry had told me and didn’t add anything new to my growing picture of the day’s disaster.

  Then Elena came up. She hadn’t touched her ice cream or, apparently, her dinner. “They still won’t talk to me.”

  I put an arm around her, not sure what to say or do. “Do you know why?”

  She choked on a sob. “Grams said… she said… I needed to talk to the living.”

  Personally, I thought Grams finally had the right idea, but I wasn’t about to tell Elena that. “Will you talk to me?” I asked. “Will you tell me what happened today?”

  Elena sobbed on my shoulder for a long time before she answered, and when she did, it was in broken sentences. She described her attempt to hide from the teachers and students, Amanda’s gang coming to confront her, and how she had lost control of her magic. “It’s all my fault,” she said in conclusion, rocking back and forth.

  “Sh. No it’s not. It was an accident.”

  “Not that part,” Elena said. “I-on the first day of school Amanda told me she sometimes knew what was going to happen. She said she was afraid to tell anyone. She thinks the devil possesses her. I told her he didn’t, that she’s a nice person, and that she should be who she is.”

  “She’s a seer and invulnerable to magic?” A rare and powerful combination, even if she didn’t have any magic reserves to back it up, and there was every chance that she did. Gifts and talents can hide in families for generations, after all, and her father was related to the McClellans.