by Geof Johnson
* * *
Fred had to use the bathroom, but the one in the game room was occupied, so she went upstairs. She stepped into the hall and saw two figures near the front door, kissing.
Jamie and Melanie.
“Oh God,” Fred gasped.
* * *
Jamie opened his eyes in time to see Fred rush by.
“Fred?” he said, but all he heard was a sob before she slammed the front door behind her.
“What’s wrong with her?” Melanie asked.
“Maybe she had a fight with Kyle,” Jamie said, though he was sure that wasn’t the reason.
* * *
Jamie found Bryce, said goodbye, and rushed out the door. On the drive home, he tried calling Fred’s cell phone, but she didn’t answer. He called her house from his driveway.
Her mother answered. “She’s doesn’t want to talk to anyone right now.”
Jamie sat in the car for a few minutes, tapping the steering wheel and thinking before going inside. He found his parents watching TV, so he sat with them for a while, fidgeting. After about 45 minutes, he stood. “I’m going for a walk.”
“But it’s late,” his mother said. “It’s almost eleven.”
“I’ll be back soon. Gotta do a little thinking.” That was always a good excuse. “Don’t wait up for me.”
He crossed the street to Fred’s house, and seeing her bedroom light on, decided to try a direct approach. He found a twig, gestured with his hand, and elevated it to her window. Then he motioned with his finger and the twig tapped on the glass. When she pulled her curtain aside and saw him standing on her moonlit lawn, she flung her curtain closed.
Tap tap tap went the twig again. Fred opened her curtain and raised her window. “What do you want?”
“I want you to talk to me.”
“I’ve got nothing to say to you. Go home.”
“I’m not leaving ’till you talk to me.”
“You can stay there all night for all I care.” She slammed her window shut.
* * *
Fred woke to see moonlight seeping into her bedroom. She glanced at her clock: 2:30, it said. She stood, went to her window and pulled the curtain aside. Down on her lawn she saw a body curled up on the grass.
“Oh, Jamie,” she said softly.
She put on her slippers and robe and crept downstairs, opened the front door, and sat on the top step.
“Jamie.” she said. He didn’t move. “Jamie,” she said a little louder and he stirred. “Why are you still here?”
He slowly sat up, wrapped his arms around his knees and said hoarsely, “I need to talk to you.”
“We don’t have anything to say to each other.”
“We have plenty to say.” He cleared his throat. “I think you saw me kissing Melanie and you got mad, and I want to know why.”
“You know why.”
“No, I don’t. Why should you care who I kiss? You’re in love with Kyle.”
“I’m not in love with Kyle.”
“Then why do you date him?”
“Because you pushed me away!”
“I did it for your own good.” He dropped his chin to his chest. “It’s killing me, though. I can’t stand it that you’re with someone else.”
“Well, I can’t stand it that you kissed Melanie.”
He raised his head. “If it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t very good. It was…flat. No tingle. No nothing.”
“I can’t stand to kiss Kyle.”
Jamie exhaled heavily. “You’ve spoiled me, Fred. I guess there’s something to that story our moms like to tell about when they were pregnant and their bellies touched and the tingle and stuff. We’re marked for life. I’m never going to be able to kiss anybody else without thinking about that feeling.”
“You act like that’s a bad thing.”
“No, it’s not. It’s wonderful.” He dropped his chin again. “I love you, Fred.”
She looked at him silently for a long moment with a bemused smile. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear that. My whole life, I guess.”
She stood and walked across the dewy grass, knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I love you too.”
“I’ve probably loved you my whole life,” he said quietly. “It just took me awhile to realize it.”
“That’s wonderful.” She kissed him lightly on the head. “But it’s late, and we have to go to church in a few hours, so go get some sleep. Then we can spend the rest of the day talking about how much we love each other. Okay?”
“Okay.” He stood, hugged her and stumbled home, his heart much lighter.
* * *
“Thanks for calling me,” Lisa said. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
She and Rachel looked out of Rachel’s back window at Jamie and Fred, who sat in the gazebo, holding hands and talking.
“She was sitting in his lap a while ago,” Rachel said.
“I wish I could’ve seen that.”
“I took a picture.”
“Now that’s a picture I’d wanna keep. I deleted all the prom pictures with Kyle in them.”
“Oh, Kyle! I forgot about him. What’s Fred going to do?”
“She broke up with him first thing this morning.”
“Poor guy.”
“I never liked him, anyway. He’s a dud. Does your mom know?”
Rachel nodded. “She saw them holding hands in church. She’s very happy. She really loves Fred, you know.”
“Fred told me that Jamie finally told her he loves her.”
It’s about time,” Rachel said. “They were meant for each other.”
“Since before they were born.”
“Yes, since before they were born.”
Chapter 50
Friday night, Jamie was way past cloud nine, practically floating on air as he crossed the street to his house. He had spent an amazing evening with Fred at the football game, and he’d still be kissing her goodnight if her father hadn’t started flicking their porch light on and off.
He opened his front door. The euphoria vanished. Something was wrong.
There’s magic here, he thought. He silently closed the door behind him; his shield appeared before him as he put out his hand. He tiptoed down the hall, his senses focused.
When he reached the family room, he was confronted by a strange sight. Directly in front of him, at the back wall, stood a man in a purple cloak, his left arm out from his side, holding a dragon’s head staff. A red glow emanated from the dragon’s eyes, and to Jamie’s far right stood his parents, frozen still as statues, surrounded by the blood-colored light.
Renn, the sorcerer.
“Eddan,” Renn said. “We meet again.”
So that was the old man’s name. It sounded right. He tried the name again silently to be sure. Eddan. He risked another quick look at his parents. Are they alive? If he’s hurt them, so help me, I’ll —
The purple-cloaked man spoke, “You’re a hard person to track down. When I asked if anyone knew of someone skilled with magic, they spoke of you, a boy. Not what I expected. At first I thought the old sorcerer must’ve taken an apprentice, but now I see that’s not so. It’s actually you, Eddan. I’d recognize your magic anywhere.”
Let him talk. Look for an opening.
“I don’t know how you managed to become so young,” Renn said. “You must’ve found a way to be born again. That’s a very good trick. I’ll have to learn that one myself someday.”
Jamie said nothing, his face a mask.
Renn squinted at Jamie’s shield as he regarded it for the first time. “I see you’ve made improvements in your defenses.” He squinted again. “Much stronger.”
Try to push him to make a mistake. “I see that you’re still crazy.”
“Oh, he speaks. I thought I was going to have to carry on this conversation by myself.”
“That’s what crazy people do. Tell me, Renn, how many people have you killed in the la
st eighteen years?”
“Oh, seventy five, one hundred. Who can count?” He laughed.
“I draw strength from their souls,” Jamie said firmly. He saw the little twitch in Renn’s left eye and knew he’d rattled him, if only a little. He doesn’t know if I can do that or not. Good. The sight of my new shield must’ve gotten his attention. Jamie desperately wanted to steal another glance at his parents, but he dared not take his attention away from the black-haired wizard.
“I’ve come here to kill you, but it doesn’t look like you’re going to make that easy for me.” Renn paused as if considering his options. “Or I can kill them.” He nodded toward Jamie’s parents. “That would be fine with me.”
“If you kill them, I will kill you,” Jamie said. “Don’t doubt that I can.” Jamie saw the muscle’s tighten around Renn’s mouth ever so slightly. He’s not so confident now.
“This puts us at an impasse, then,” Renn said. “If you drop your shield to attack me, I will kill your parents. These are your parents, right? They are under my spell now. I can kill them easily.” He wagged his finger. “But if I kill them, you’ll have time to drop your shield and kill me.”
Jamie didn’t answer.
“But if I kill your parents, that would be fair, would it not?” His voice grew louder. “After all, you let my parents die. You could have saved them, but you didn’t.” He said through clenched teeth, “My sister was five years old! Five! You could’ve stopped the plague, but you couldn’t be bothered.” His nostrils flared.
That wasn’t me. I have to keep my cool.
“Couldn’t be bothered to save an entire town.” The cords on Renn’s neck bulged. “Hundreds of people.” He took two deep breaths and clenched his fist, lowered his voice and said, “Hundreds. All dead.” His handsome face was a dark snarl.
He regained his composure and pointed at Jamie. “So you have two choices. Lower your shield and let me kill you, or watch your parents die. They’ll not live much longer under this spell.”
Renn’s voice was growing deeper and his words were stretching out. Why is he talking like that? Renn began to close his eyes, slowly, almost imperceptibly. Jamie watched with fascination. Then Renn reopened them, slower still, glacially.
What is going on?
My senses are heightened. I’m seeing everything in slow motion. Eddan could do that, he remembered.
* * *
Jamie blinked, and when he opened his eyes, Renn was still there, but the room was different. Behind Renn was a curved stone wall and a cluttered bench. It’s Eddan’s tower. This is one of his memories.
Jamie’s hand was before him, but it was wrinkled and covered with age spots, the arm covered by the sleeve of a dark robe. The air shimmered around him with the yellowish glow of Eddan’s shield. I’m seeing through Eddan’s eyes, Jamie realized.
“Where are your books, old man?” Renn said.
“Somewhere safe, where you can’t find them,” Jamie heard himself say.
Renn smiled evilly. “We’ll see about that.” He raised his dragon’s head staff.
“Why are you holding a carved stick? Is that a new toy?”
“Oh, more than a toy.” Renn clamped his jaw and thrust the staff forward. Twin red bolts shot from the eyes of the dragon. Jamie watched as the beams hit Eddan’s shield and pressed mercilessly into it, penetrating farther with each moment, like a finger pressing into a tightly stretched cloth.
Eddan dropped to his left as the shield collapsed, the bolts narrowly missing him and shattering the stone behind him. Jamie winced as he felt Eddan’s shoulder hit the floor. He smelled singed hair but had no time to look, because he sensed Renn gather his will again. Eddan rolled to his right and another blast struck the floor beside him, setting fire to the planks.
Eddan dove behind a nearby bench just as Renn released another blow, and the wood disintegrated in a shower of splinters. Jamie felt Eddan raise his arm to cover his eyes. He rose to his knees, pointed his hand at Renn and released a bolt of his own. It bounced harmlessly away.
How can this be happening? Jamie wondered as Eddan pulled up all the reserves he could muster, and fired another blast. Again, it was deflected by Renn’s shield.
“I’m through playing with you,” Renn said. “Tell me where your books are.”
Eddan shook his head defiantly.
“Very well.” He pushed his staff forward again as Eddan put every ounce of concentration into his defense. Fierce streams flew from the dragon’s head and struck Eddan’s shield. Jamie watched in horror as it slowly bent inward and finally gave way altogether.
The blast smashed into Eddan, and he gasped in pain, gesturing a spell with one hand as he fell and vanished. He reappeared face down on the dusty floor of his dark cave, his chest burning in agony.
* * *
God, that hurt, Jamie thought, touching his chest. That was Eddan’s final battle. That must’ve been right before he came here.
“Well?” Renn said, his staff still pointed at Jamie’s parents. “What’s it going to be, you or them?”
I’m back in real time.
“Decide quickly or I’ll kill them now.”
Jamie’s blue eyes were steely as he regarded Renn. Eddan’s shot wasn’t strong enough, but I think mine is. He pressed his mouth tight. I think I can beat him. My new power shot can penetrate his shield. He stole a quick glance at his parents. But if I fail, they’ll die.
“Time’s up.” Renn narrowed his eyes and turned toward Jamie’s parents.
He felt his heart drop. I can’t take the chance. “Wait,” Jamie said. “I propose a trade. My life for theirs.”
Renn stared back for what seemed like an eternity. Jamie felt his pulse race and heard the rush of blood in his ears. The room was cloaked in an eerie stillness.
Finally, Renn nodded. “I accept.”
“I must have your word that you’ll spare them.”
“You have my word.”
For what that’s worth, but Jamie didn’t have much choice. He lowered his hand and his shield vanished. “Take me, then,” he said.
Triumph flashed across Renn’s face. As he pulled the staff forward to bear on Jamie, the glow vanished surrounding his parents. Jamie’s father reached into his coat.
His gun! He forgot to away put his gun.
Jamie’s senses heightened again. His father drew his weapon and squeezed off two shots before Renn could manage a spell. Jamie clearly saw the bullets exit the barrel and streak across the room toward the evil wizard like two tiny avenging missiles. The first shot missed, but the second struck the insane wizard on his left shoulder, forcing him to let go of the staff. Before Renn could recover, Jamie raised his arm toward Renn.
It had come to this. All the years of anxiety, uncertainty, fear and dread, and the recent isolation from his friends, boiled up like swirling lava under a volcano. Jamie felt an enormous surge of power that seemed to start from his toes, race up through his body, down his arm and explode from his fingertips in a blinding streak of energy that shattered Renn’s shield and struck him squarely in the chest.
Renn lurched one step backward, looked down and touched both hands to his gaping wound, then looked at Jamie in disbelief. Then his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed.
Jamie stared, mouth open and eyes wide. It took a moment for it to sink in. I did it. He shook his head and blinked hard. I beat him.
The house was silent except for a faint hissing sound. Jamie and his parents crept across the room to the body of the sorcerer. Renn was no more. His body dissolved before their eyes, bubbling and hissing like boiling tar, even his clothes. The staff was a charred stick on the floor.
His father broke the silence, looking at the smoldering body. “I think we’re going to need new carpet.”
His mother looked at Jamie’s father incredulously, then at Jamie. “What just happened here?”
* * *
From the rocky precipice where Jamie had been many times before, Jamie�
��s father threw a rock out over the chasm. Jamie whipped his hand up from his side like a Wild West gunfighter and fired a laser-like bolt that disintegrated it in mid-air.
“Whoo!” his father bellowed. “That was great! How ’bout another?”
“That’s enough blasting,” Jamie’s mother said from behind them.
“Well, what else?” his father said. “Can you fly?”
“Oh, sure.” Jamie held his hands out theatrically and slowly rose in the air, but when he was about ten feet off the ground, his mother said, “James Evan Sikes, you come down from there this instant.” He floated down.
His mother crossed her arms. “You’ve told us some wild stories, and if I hadn’t seen you do these things with my own eyes, I never would believe any of it. So, who are you, then? What are you? A centuries-old sorcerer,” — she cocked her head to one side — “or our son?”
“Oh, I’m definitely your son. I wasn’t sure myself, for a while, but I finally figured out that even the old sorcerer didn’t have the power to reincarnate himself. The only soul in this body is Jamie Sikes’s.” He tapped his chest with his thumb. “He just set everything up so that I could be born and I’d absorb his memories and his power. That’s why Renn thought I was the old man, because I have his power. It’s the same. Each person’s magic is unique, like fingerprints.”
“But the old man endangered your life!”
“He had a real good reason. I think he was looking for some kind of redemption. He felt partly responsible for making Renn into a murdering psychopath, and he knew that somebody had to stop Renn, because he was going to keep on killing. He enjoyed killing, I think. So think of it as a trade. You got to have a baby, which you never would’ve had, and in return, I had to grow up and find a way to kill Renn.”
“I’d take that trade any time,” his father said.
“But you two were a crucial part of the plan,” Jamie continued. “Eddan couldn’t see the future, but he could sense possibilities, or potentials, as he thought of them, and he picked you for a reason. He knew that somehow it would give me the advantage I’d need to beat Renn.”
“Even though Renn beat Eddan before,” his father added.