by Sariah Skye
I swallowed, feeling somewhat violated and troubled. “But—why? How?” Years of memories had been hidden from me—memories that would have made the difference between a horrible childhood and a better one. Memories that if I’d been allowed to keep, I might not have ever come to Earth. I might never have found Gabriel and learned that I was some magical dragon aligned to help save the Court from Shadow invasion.
Suddenly, it made more sense.
Maxxus appeared confused. “Direct contact—but I remember all the times I spoke to Leo… when she came over through the portal… when she—”
I cut him off. “Maxxus… there were other times. Times, after that first day of school. We were friends for a long, long time.”
Maxxus winced. “But how? No! There is nothing that could possibly erase my memories of you—not a spell in this universe!”
I gave him a sympathetic look. “It’s true, Maxxus. I don’t know how. I don’t know who did it, but… someone blocked out memories we had together.”
Maxxus swallowed. He blinked rapidly, looking away at something suddenly so interesting in his lap. I saw him brush his fist over his eye and sniffle. “You remember them, now? What do you remember?”
I smiled slowly, as he looked up earnestly at me.
“Well… I remember having lunch out on the fields. Jerky, usually… that my mother packed. I remember you used to create fabulous, beautiful weapons. And armor. You made a dagger, with pink sapphires on it. It was beautiful.”
He appeared thoughtful for a minute. “I… I remember seeing a dagger like that. But, I didn’t make it. Did I? I can’t make weapons!”
Kiarra spoke up this time. “Actually, Maxxus… Earth dragons are well known for being fantastic blacksmiths sometimes. Like they can sense what minerals and things are in the earth, and pull them up with their magic. It’s a great talent… you don’t ever remember making things?”
He shook his head slowly, looking confused. “No… you think I’d remember that? What reason would someone have to block out me being a weaponsmith?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.” I glanced helplessly at Finnian who simply sighed.
“I wished I could have been truthful about this from the beginning, but I sensed all of you—all of you—have been touched with some sort of magic. It’s been there for a long, long time and its weakest in Kiarra and Daniel—but there is a magic signature that reads in all of you that you have in common.”
Gabriel gasped. “Could the rest of us have had our memories taken away too?”
Finnian shook his head slowly. “No… I don’t believe so. And if so, not to the extent that they’ve been taken in Leo and Maxxus here. Whatever this magic is… it has drawn you together, subconsciously.”
I snorted. “Like a magical friendship bracelet,” I mumbled.
Daniel tittered. “Oh, stop,” he said with a mischievous grin.
I smirked at him, catching a glimpse of Gabriel’s sullen expression next to him. I thought about reaching out to him—but didn’t. This development may complicate things a bit. A lot. More than they already were. I looked away and caught sight of Maxxus’ now much more familiar face before me and smiled slowly.
The corners of his lips upturned slightly. “It appears I am at a disadvantage,” he said, feigning humor, but you could see the distress in the worry lines around his eyes.
I had the sudden urge to shift into my dragon form and cuddle up to him—as I recalled a memory emerged from years ago: Maxxus and I in a clearing, near a slow-moving creek in the woods near my home. Maxxus dreaded going home once again and facing the wrath of his disappointed parents, myself just relishing in the handsome company. The sun started to set, making the ripples in the stream sparkle brilliant oranges and pinks. It was time for Maxxus to leave, but I didn’t let him. Instead, I curled my dragon self up to his form, strategically resting my rump on one of his hind legs. Sighing, Maxxus rested his head on top of mine, and I rested my chin on my outstretched front legs. We stayed like that for a few hours, dozing in and out, watching the stars emerge and the moon rise. It was Grandfather who found us—familiar with our usual haunts—who apparently covered for Maxxus being away from home so late—and with me, no less—and that’s all I could remember.
I felt a sense of warmth wave through my body at the happy memory. I had happy memories as a dragon. The development was—probably more astounding than the fact that I was in fact, wholly magical after all. I smiled to myself, letting the memory envelop me like a strong hug on a cold night.
I wasn’t sure how long I was sitting like that, relishing in my own thoughts when out of nowhere, everyone was panicking and trying to hold me down.
Coming back to the present, I realized that my appendages felt like they were on fire. The warmth I felt wasn’t from the memory, but from an energy emanating from inside and outwards through my hands. I screamed, as the heat seared my fingertips. Gabriel was trying to comfort my hands with his cool water magic, Kiarra was encouraging me to exhale slowly, to intensify his magic. I did so, half in a surprised daze when the entire magical enclosure filled with my magic breath. Gabriel’s slow trickle of water he summoned from his hands suddenly grew into a small tidal wave. He dropped it, startled by the rapid growth of his magic and everyone took a handful of steps back and away—except for me, I had to be pulled by Finnian who was the fastest of everyone; everyone was confounded by the surge in Gabriel’s magic and then terrified as the wave grew larger and threatened to splash over us all.
Kiarra desperately shouted at Maxxus for him to use his earth magic, as her own water magic was useless against the strength of Gabriel’s. Flustered, Maxxus was trying to pull up a plot of earth from under the wave and cover the mass of water, but so far was only succeeding in small piles of mud that were being engulfed by the wave.
Gabriel was frantically trying to quell his own magic, unsuccessfully. Inadvertently, he shot a ball of plasma at it, causing it to mix with the fury of the water and sent lightning up towards the sky—but it was contained by Finnian’s magical wards (thank the Gods).
“Leo—you’re on! Do something!” Finnian was appearing flustered—a rare emotion for the Loremaster who was always so collected—his eyes wide and yellow.
I glared at him momentarily, thinking that maybe, this was another one of his tricks for forcing magic out of me, but, sensing the panic falling off of him in waves but I quickly decided that no, this wasn’t his doing. At least, not directly.
I wasn’t sure what to do, my fingertips still radiated heat—you could almost see my hands glow with energy—and they twitched, like they were their own separate entities and anxious.
I bit my lip, watching everyone frantically trying to quell the weather and Gabriel’s out of control magic. I wasn’t sure where to start.
Gabriel was panicked, I could feel the fear emanate off him; the fear of losing control of his magic.
Without realizing fully what I was doing, I crossed through the water, pushing it aside with the energy radiating from my hands, and I reached out and firmly grasped Gabriel’s, that were rapidly trying to conjure something to undo the wrath of the magic he conjured before. Suddenly, he was looking at me intently. I stared into his deep brown eyes, willing him to calm.
I felt his breath, slow down; his heart rate went back to normal. His panicked expression was replaced by one of peace and calm as he slowly backed away and sat cross legged near the outside of the perimeter.
“Leo!” Kiarra shrieked; the wave had not subsided even though Gabriel’s demeanor was no longer frantic. Maxxus was still summoning small masses of earth from the ground, trying to squash the wave, but he was panicked as well and not having much success. The wave was closest to Kiarra and she swallowed nervously as it threatened to consume her.
Feeling robotic, I let the magical energy take control. I felt charged and sparked with power. I walked over to Maxxus. His palms were hovering over the earth, trying to pull up enough dirt to cover the large w
ave. I placed my palms over his.
He looked down at me hopefully, and I just gave him a small smile. Sparks shot out of my hands to his as I willed his earth magic to be stronger.
Surprised, Maxxus watched as a large wall of earth rose from the ground, slow at first but growing exponentially. I placed my hands directly on top of his, guiding his hands and gaze upwards, as I encouraged him to encourage his magic to rise.
Satisfied the wall was large enough, with one pushing gesture, I slammed my hands against his, and he moved his large magical earthen wall over the tower of water. It engulfed the water slowly, and turning to mud, it eventually fell back to the ground and all that was left was a shiny, muddy patch of earth where the water once stood.
Maxxus stood dumbfounded, his mouth agape as he stared at his hands that created such a large amount of magic.
I smirked, feeling satisfied. He looked at me briefly and slowly smiled. “I can’t believe I did that,” was all he said.
“I can’t believe I caused that.” Crestfallen, Gabriel turned and walked away from the group and sat in a corner, facing the woods and not us.
My smirk fell, and I started off towards him when Daniel caught me.
“Might not be the best time, okay?” he whispered knowingly, with a raise of his brow. I sighed, and slumped my shoulders, but nodded. Daniel patted the side of my arm and trotted off to his brother.
I turned back to the rest of the group. Maxxus was still staring at his hands, amazed. A slow smile spread across my lips as another memory surfaced… this time only a brief one. I recalled a small shack, somewhere in the woods with little more than a fire and some iron rods, where Maxxus secretly created his weapons; his metal sculptures. At the moment, I watched Maxxus intently banging a hammer against a slab of—something, I did not understand, but it was black—causing a metallic clanking to reverberate through the shack and the small area of forest we were in. He turned and grabbed a long iron pair of something that looked like tongs, and pinched the slab in between the vice. He turned and placed it into the roaring fire, contained in a hot, wood stove across from him. It was makeshift and hardly safe, but he couldn’t face telling his parents about his newfound talent—it wasn’t good enough for them. He turned and glanced at me, briefly. I was in my human form, nestled up in a colorful tapestry against the wall, reading a long, hardbound book. I grinned at him, as he used his sleeve to wipe a bead of sweat from his forehead dripping into his eyes. One hand briefly let go of the pinchers and he seemed to miscalculate the weight, as it slipped from his grip and the heated metal slammed against the front of his leg, burning his leather pants and causing him to cry out in pain.
I dropped my book immediately and was at his side. Wincing, Maxxus tried to pull the pants away from his leg to no avail.
“This will only take a sec,” I said. I narrowed my eyes in concentration and hovered my palms over the injury. Maxxus sucked in air through his teeth, cringing, but released the breath, relieved after a few moments. I pulled my hands away and patted the pink flesh that remained instead of the blistering, red burn that had been there. “See? Good as new.”
Maxxus simply grinned. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. I laid my cheek against his heart, enjoying the sound of his strong heartbeat, slowing now that he wasn’t in agony. “What would I do without you?”
I snorted. “Get hurt a lot.” We both giggled and the memory faded away.
“Leorah?” Finnian was staring at me, quizzically.
I held up my palm to indicate “just a minute”. I stood near Maxxus, eyeing his leg. “Can you pull up the bottom of your pants? Just to your knee?”
He gave me an odd look, but complied without question. He leaned over and grabbed the hem of his jeans, and pulled them up to his knee. Sure enough, there was a very faint white scar in the place I had healed many, many years ago. Before I realized I even could.
“That—that scar. I remember how you got that!” I insisted.
“Oh… you couldn’t have. This was during a magic practice session with your grandfather,” he explained.
I shook my head, and regaled the memory I had just seen.
His eyes widened, and let out a low whistle. “How… how is this possible?” he mused.
“Is it possible that, if memories were erased that perhaps, some were put there for whatever reason?” Daniel offered. His brother glanced at him wistfully, and smirked, mouthing a ‘Yeah, right’.
Finnian scratched his chin. “It’s… possible.”
Gabriel grumbled. “Figures.”
I sighed and sat down on the dirt ground with a small thud. I buried my face with my hands. “Oh! This is frustrating!”
Kiarra had her phone pulled out of her pocket and was glancing at it. “Okay, we've been at it for an hour. You're strong but—we already sort of saw you do all this stuff before. Did the spell even work right? Besides removing the memory block, what new magic has emerged?”
I pointed at her. “She has a point. Maybe I’m not all that powerful after all.”
Finnian raised a brow and smirked. “Oh really? Compel someone to do something—something really off the wall.”
I gave him an odd look. “Like what?” I asked, with a shrug.
“Anything… anything you want. I'm betting that it—and all the rest of your magic—will be like second nature now.”
I exchanged a look with Kiarra. I glanced at everyone in turn before my gaze landed back on an expectant Finnian. I had to bite my own lip to keep from laughing.
Kiarra almost read my mind. She nudged me and whispered, “I think Loremasters are immune.”
“We’ll see,” I whispered back. “What should I have him do?”
Kiarra thought briefly and then choked back a sudden burst of laughter. “Have him do the Carlton. You know what that is?”
A short, loud laugh escaped my mouth. I covered it with my hand and snickered. I nodded, I sure did know what the Carlton was.
“Pretend you’re compelling Maxxus or something… he’s sitting relatively close to him. Hopefully Finnian won’t think it’s him,” she whispered.
I nodded. I looked intently at Maxxus and moved my eyes without moving the rest of my body towards Finnian, to signal what I was doing so he wouldn’t worry. He gave a slight nod of the head, indicating that he understood.
I stared at Finnian intently. His green-blue eyes turned a pale gray when I locked my gaze on him and I subconsciously placed my message. You want to do the Carlton dance.
Finnian’s arms moved, and then stopped suddenly. I sent my message again. His fingers twitched, but, nothing.
I frowned at Kiarra, disappointed.
“Sure you’re thinking of the right thing? Maybe he hasn’t seen Fresh Prince,” she suggested.
I feigned awe. “Who hasn’t seen Fresh Prince?” I could just see Alfonso Ribeiro dancing along to “It’s Not Unusual”. I had to stifle a giggle at the image.
Kiarra snickered. She elbowed me in the ribs—apparently, I was spacing out—to catch my attention.
Slowly, Finnian’s arms moved, then his leg.
I let out a loud laugh. It didn’t distract him, it only seemed to egg him on as he danced in tune to the rhythm in my head.
Gabriel let out a roar of laughter, followed by Daniel. Maxxus tittered, but even he laughed too when Finnian sang hesitantly and off key along with his dancing.
“All right, Finn!” Kiarra catcalled, whistling in mock-flirtation at him as he kept right on dancing, faster and more proficient now.
“Oh, this is too good!” I pulled out my phone from my pocket and tapped a couple of buttons, holding up to my view to record Finnian’s uncharacteristic goofy behavior.
Kiarra was rolling, slapping her thighs and guffawing. She grabbed my arm and spat out, “Stop! Just stop him… I can’t take it anymore!” she gasped in between breaths.
I nodded and told him to Stop in my mind, with a flourish of my hand for effect.
; Finnian stopped, mid-stanza. His hands dropped to his side and he stared at us, bewildered as all our gazes and smirks were fixed on him. “What?” He smoothed out the front of his button-down, black shirt and shrugged. “Leo, try out your magic… see how well you can compel someone.”
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
“Yeah, Carlton!” Daniel whooped from across the clearing.
Kiarra tried to stifle her laughter; I snorted. Finnian looked at us oddly.
“You’re a fantastic dancer, Finn. I never knew!” Kiarra jested.
“What? I don’t dance, how would you—”
I tapped the phone to replay what I just recorded and thrust it at him.
His eyes widened as he watched himself dancing the Carlton, quite skillfully in the end. He had to fight a grin as his recorded self blared out the song.
Finnian cocked a brow as he handed me my phone back. “Well played, Leo. Well played.” I shrugged nonchalantly.
“Still think it was just ‘a little bit of magic’?” Finnian challenged in a mocking tone to Kiarra, with a scowl on his heart-shaped lips.
She held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay.”
“She’s right though. Some compulsion. That’s… basically it. That’s what happens from your big spell? We already knew I could do all that.”
Finnian smirked. “Well, the results are unpredictable. I suspected that there was a magic block on you—as well as a memory one—and I was right. You just need some sort of trigger to recall things—kind of like that storm in the town square.”
“Well… can you do that again? Something like that?” Daniel suggested.
“I’m not sure it’s necessary. I have a theory. Leo… can you summon your wings, please? Or shift?”
I grumbled. I didn’t want to get stuck as either, but if I had to be in a form, at least the winged-human was still more bearable since I didn’t have to tear up my clothes to shift.
I closed my eyes briefly and willed the wings to come out my back. I felt the tingle that was coming familiar as they shot out, up and down my back. I opened my eyes watching as I outstretched them at my sides and let them rest on my back. “Okay… what’s your theory? Better hope I can get these babies back in,” I added under my breath.